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MOORE'S 

HISTORY OF THE STATES 

UNITED AND OTHERWISE 



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Moore's 
History of the States 

United and Otherwise 



BY 
CHARLES F. MOORE 



MEMIUiR 
Anelo- American Historical Society ; International Association of Historic 
Research: Society for the Preservation of History and Tradition; Geographic 
and Historic Society of America, and so forth 

AUTHOR 
"The Finding and Founding of the United States" ; "History of Civil- 
ization and Ne-w fersey": "History of the Years to Come"; "Prophecies 
Concerning the Past"; "Superheated Arctic Discussion", and many other 
books not yet written. 




New York and Washington 

THE NEALF. PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1909 



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Copyright. 1909, by 
THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 



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TO MY MOTHER 



PREFACE 

The purpose of this publication is to satisfy a 
long-felt hunger. If it shall prove helpful in pro- 
curing our daily bread, we shall feel that the 
effort has not been in vain. 

The book is not intended to supplant the unin- 
teresting histories which are used to punish the 
children in our public schools, and to gather dust 
on library shelves. It is designed to be read, and 
to afford entertainment, without imposing a bur- 
den of information, and incidentally to provide 
respectable authority for the misstatement of facts 
so frequently Indulged by writers and public 
speakers. 

So far as we are aware, this is the only history 
on the market which admits its general inaccuracy. 
The reader, therefore, who quotes from its pages 
must do so at his own risk, for no statement herein 
contained Is guaranteed by the author. 

If we have failed to do justice to any one men- 
tioned in the course of this story of events, sincere 
apology is made In advance. It must be remem- 
bered that one cannot speak from personal knowl- 
edge of all that has transpired in a period covering 
more than four centuries. Many conclusions, 
therefore, have been reached through information 
obtained from others, and we have long since 
found that little dependence can be put in other 
people. 



8 Preface 

We desire to make proper acknowledgment of 
our indebtedness to sundry untrustworthy writers, 
whose productions we have carefully overlooked; 
and in justification of the price at which the book is 
sold we likewise acknowledge an indebtedness to 
the landlord and the ice-man. 

The ignorant and gullible public is cautioned 
against the spurious imitations of this work which 
its immense popularity will surely encourage to be 
put on the market. F'or the protection of the 
people we shall not permit it to be sold by travel- 
ling book-agents nor by speculators on the side- 
walk; and the publishers of adulterated editions 
are warned that they will be prosecuted for viola- 
tion of the pure-food law. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTEU PAGE 

I Physical Description 1 1 

II Discovery and Settlement 13 

III Some More of the Same 17 

IV The Revolution 23 

V Declaration of Independence 29 

VI Incidents of the Revolution 35 

VII The Constitution 38 

VIII Constitutional Amendments. 45 

IX Washington's Administration 51 

X Administration of John Adams 61 

XI Jefferson and Madison 67 

XII From Monroe to Buchanan 74 

XIII The Uncivil War and Reconstruction 85 

XIV Universal Suffrage 93 

XV From Johnson to Arthur 98 

XVI From Cleveland to McKinley 104 

XVII The Spanish War 117 

XVIII The Army's Part in the War 129 

XIX The Reign of Theodore Roosevelt 145 

XX Some Phases and Institutions of American 

Life 158 

XXI The Era of Corporations 172 

XXII Corporate Legi3lation and Investigation 179 

XXIII New York City and State 194 

XXIV Lining Up for 1908 213 

XXV The Taft-Bryan Campaign 228 

XXVI The Taft Administration 246 

XXVII Some Conclusions 274 



Moore's History of the States 

UNITED AND OTHERWISE 
CHAPTER I 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION 

The United States consist of certain and uncer- 
tain portions of land, water and mud scattered 
over this and the other side of the globe. 

The climate is variable, depending on its con- 
dition, and the atmosphere nervous and fluctuat- 
ing. High winds prevail in the region of Chicago 
and other untamed sections of the West, and 
brain-storms and hot-air currents are frequently 
encountered around New York and Pittsburg. 

Generally speaking, the surface is undulating. 
The highest ground in the world, we are told by 
real-estate agents, lies along Broadway in the City 
of New York. Indeed, there is a very small part 
of the metropolis on the level. 

At the time of its discovery the country was 
occupied by the American Indians, which race has 
gradually disappeared before the murderous 
march of civilization until few remain who have 
not been "benevolently assimilated." The last 

11 



12 Moore's History of the States 

remnants of these copper-colored tribes have been 
consolidated by a promoter known as Buffalo Bill. 
This merger is called Amalgamated Copper. 

The surviving Indians hold Buffalo Bill in high 
esteem, for the very good reason that since joining 
him they have had a show. The people who now 
inhabit the United States are called Americans, 
because they are from every place except America. 

It is an exceedingly fertile country, yielding its 
products in great variety and abundance. Some 
localities produce politicians and confusion; in 
other sections the natives devote much of their 
time to raising corn, rye and mint, and the rest of 
the time to raising cain. Fish and oysters are 
abundantly supplied to epicures and lobsters to 
manicures, peaches frequent the cafes and fashion- 
able resorts, and lemons are distributed with 
marked generosity. 



CHAPTER II 

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT 

The first and only discovery of America which 
ever amounted to anything occurred in the latter 
part of the fifteenth century. It was discovered 
by an enterprising Dago by the name of Christo- 
pher Columbus, who was not looking for it and 
died without knowing he had found it. Columbus 
had not lost any country, and therefore was not 
hunting for one; but he had lost his job, and to 
quiet the clamor of his impatient creditors he set 
out in quest of an American heiress. In this enter- 
prise he was materially assisted by Queen Isabella 
of Spain, who commanded her husband, Ferdi- 
nand, to supply the funds necessary to defray the 
expense of the venture. Like a well-trained sub- 
ordinate, he obeyed, and made generous contribu- 
tion to the cause out of other people's money, in 
the same manner that most benevolent donations 
are made. 

In return for this Spanish kindness, which led 
to the discovery of their country, the Americans, 
some four hundred years later, after long and dili- 
gent search, discovered the Spanish at Manila Bay 

(13) 



14 Moore's History of the States 

and Santiago, and heaped coals of fire and explo- 
sives on their heads. 

When it was finally known that a new country 
had been located, all the B'uropean nations were 
anxious to share in its distribution. Repeated at- 
tempts were made to explore and colonize it. Not, 
however, until the year 1607 was a successful 
attempt made by the English in the latter direc- 
tion. Then three small motor-boats, carrying one 
hundred and five souls and a like number of bodies, 
crossed the Atlantic, and, drifting into the mouth 
of an unknown stream, landed the adventurers on 
its banks. The settlement there established was 
called Jamestown, because it was found to be 
located on the James River; which stream took its 
name from Jesse James, on account of the habit 
it had of breaking its banks. 

The settlement of Jamestown was accomplished 
with great difficulty. To-day there would be no 
trouble to effect its settlement at ten cents on the 
dollar. 

While the industrious members of this coloniz- 
ing band were engaged in building houses and for- 
tifications, the others assembled in the opera-house 
and organized The Jamestown Exposition Com- 
pany, which perfected the plans for a great cele- 
bration some time after the show had closed, three 
hundred years later. Because the exposition was 
not held at Jamestown, the original settlers re- 
fused to attend it. 

In 1620 the Puritans sailed from the old coun- 
try, aiming to locate near the same spot; but their 



Discovery and Settlement 1 5 

poor seamanship landed them at Plymouth Rock. 
Thus It appears that New England was colonized 
by accident, and the Pilgrims landed in Massachu- 
setts because they did not know any better. 

Most of the early settlers came to America in 
search of liberty, just as many of our own people 
have in more recent years gone to Canada, Mex- 
ico and Paris. But international extradition trea- 
ties have become so general and comprehensive 
that liberty is well-nigh a thing of the past. About 
the only places of safety remaining for wrong- 
doers in America are in the United States Senate 
and the House of Representatives, the members 
of which are under the Constitution "privileged 
from arrest during their attendance at the session 
of their respective houses and in going to and 
returning from the same." These places, however, 
afford immunity to a small portion only of those 
who need it. They are therefore eagerly sought 
and command such high prices that none but the 
very wealthy can afford them. The poor law- 
breaker who cannot go to Congress must go to 
jail. 

It was the hope of obtaining religious freedom 
that induced the Puritans to come to America. 
They had long endured persecution and yearned 
for a place where every one might be at liberty to 
worship God according to the dictates of the Puri- 
tans, which, as they saw it, was the only faith and 
practice that should be tolerated. They looked 
upon misery as the only true state of happiness, 
and taught that piety consists in denying to your- 



\6 Moort''s History of the States 

self and others all the good things of life. The 
religious bigot, then as now, was the one whose 
creed ditlercd from your own, just as the blind 
partisan is always the man who ^■otcs the other 
ticket. 



CHAPTER III 

SOMF-: MORi: OF THK SAME 

Rcvcrtinji; to Jamestown, it may be noted that 
history affords no better illustration of the impor- 
tant part woman plays in the march of human 
progress than the early development of this settle- 
ment. The colonists struggled along from year 
to year with little or no success until 1620, at 
which time ninety young women were induced to 
come over and join them. 'J'he freight on this 
valuable consignment was paid in tobacco by the 
men who chose the young women for their wives. 
That a man is willing to give up his tobacco for 
a woman has ever since been regarded as a su- 
preme test of devotion. 

I he effect of this importation of women was 
magical. The discouraged settlers took on new 
life and new hope, and forthwith the infant indus- 
tries of the country began to flourish. 

The first immigrants were not from the aristo- 
cratic families of the old country, but belonged to 
the poor and humbler classes. Many of them, 
indeed, were so indolent and impecunious that they 
became known as "F F Vs," meaning Tour-Flush- 
ing Vagrants. 

(17) 



i8 Moore's History of the States 

All the settling, however, was not done by the 
English. France and Spain were taking a hand, 
and even the slow-moving Dutch began to sit up 
and take notice. In 1609, Henry Hudson, who 
was engaged in the service of the Dutch East India 
Company, came over from Holland on a North 
German Lloyd steamer and landed late one even- 
ing at a Hoboken pier. He set out unattended in 
the darkness and fog to find his way to the Hol- 
land House, where he had taken the precaution 
to engage accommodation in advance by a wireless 
message from midocean. He had gone but a short 
distance, when, without a moment's warning, he 
stepped into a large body of running water, and 
thus by the merest accident was led to the discov- 
ery of a great river, to which he generously gave 
his own name. If the Hudson River Tunnel had 
been in operation at that time the existence of the 
stream might have remained unknown to this day. 
On the following morning Hudson boarded an 
excursion boat to Albany and explored the river 
to that point. This renowned explorer located the 
stream with consummate skill and foresight, run- 
ning it between Albany and New York, with Sing 
Sing intermediate and accessible to both places. 

The Hudson is still a great river, but not what 
it used to be. Great chunks of it are cut out and 
carried off every hard winter by the American Ice 
Company. While the country on both sides of it 
has wonderfully improved, the stream itself has 
been running down ever since Hudson retired from 
its management. 



Soj7ie More of the Same 19 

Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait were, in later 
years, discovered by this tireless adventurer. The 
persistency of his search for potable waters leads 
us to believe Mrs. Hudson must have been an 
active member of the W. C. T. U. and he, per- 
haps, a prohibitionist. His voyages resulted in the 
settlement of New York by the Dutch, though It 
has since been financed by the Jews, and is now run 
by the Irish. 

In the year 1682 a good-natured, rotund gen- 
tleman, named William Penn, came to America 
with a number of other simple-heartedQuakersand 
undertook the settlement of that portion of the 
country comprising the States of Pennsylvania and 
Delaware, It is, no doubt, owing to the deep piety 
and unfailing Integrity of their founders that these 
two States are regarded by all as models of civic 
righteousness and political purity. 

On account of his respect for either the rights 
or the weapons of the Indians, Penn refused to 
engage in war with them, as others had done, but 
established peaceful and friendly relations by pur- 
chasing their lands, giving them in exchange 
Quaker oats, Peruna, trading stamps and other 
useful household articles. For the reason that he 
was thus enabled to accomplish far better results 
than had been achieved by others through a resort 
to arms, it has ever since been a familiar proverb 
that "The Penn is mightier than the sword." 

Within a few months after Penn's arrival he 



20 Moore's History of the States 

laid out the city of Philadelphia, a place of some 
local importance, situated near Germantown, 
through which one must pass in going from Bal- 
timore to New York. Philadelphia is thought by 
many to be the most thoroughly laid-out city in the 
world. Penn displayed great wisdom in giving the 
place an early start. 

It was while living in this city that Benjamin 
Franklin, some years later, amazed the world by 
announcing his discovery of electricity. The pub- 
lic was astounded, not because electricity was dis- 
covered, nor because Franklin made the discovery, 
but because electricity was found in Philadelphia. 

About this time a royal charter was granted the 
Connecticut colony, which in many respects is said 
to be the most liberal charter ever issued, with the 
single exception of the one obtained by the Stand- 
ard Oil Company from the State of New Jersey. 

No American history is complete which fails to 
mention John Smith, nor could it hope to find a 
large sale if, by such omission, offence should be 
given to the Smith family. 

This particular John Smith was responsible for 
many notable achievements, but he won his place 
in history largely through his unique deliverance 
when captured by the Indians. Chief Powhatan 
had issued positive instructions that Smith should 
be forthwith electrocuted. This order was about 
to be put into effect when Miss Pocahontas Pow- 
hatan, the Chief's beautiful daughter, came on the 



Some More of the Same 21 

scene. Seeing that Smith was to suffer a violent 
death, and realizing with a woman's Intuition how 
it hurts to be killed, she sprang to the side of the 
terrified prisoner and threw about him the left 
wing of her sheath skirt. Then, looking straight 
Into the face of her father, she said, "Touch him 
If you dare, you old blood-thirsty savage, and I'll 
report you to Commissioner Bingham." This 
tender appeal touched the heart of the stern old 
warrior, and thereupon he permitted Smith to give 
ball and go free. John then rewarded the faithful 
girl by not making her his wife. 

Shortly after this Pocahontas became the wife 
of an Englishman named John Rolfe. It Is Inter- 
esting to note how widely this first trans-Atlantic 
marriage differed from most modern ones. In the 
first place, this particular foreigner was respect- 
able, had no royal title, and paid his debts. In the 
second place, his American bride was not an 
heiress; and, what Is still more surprising, they 
lived together without scandal or divorce for a 
period of three long years. 

Some may be concerned In knowing that In the 
year 1741 the lynching bee, commonly regarded as 
a pastime peculiar to the South, originated In New 
York City. The people became greatly agitated 
by a rumor that the negroes had formed a plot to 
burn the city; whereupon the citizens organized a 
mob and without ceremony proceeded to excuse 
some thirty colored gentlemen from further par- 



22 Moore's History of the States 

ticlpation in the uncertainties of life. In recent 
years these festivities are not so generally observed 
in the North as they are in the Southern section, 
for the reason that the former locality is not so 
well provided with the necessary raw material. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE REVOLUTION 

The written story of the American people, as 
Indeed of all others, consists largely In a recital of 
their misdeeds and Inhuman conduct. This, not 
because there Is no good to relate, but because we 
have always been Inclined to direct our attention 
to the abnormal side of life. 

The man who goes along his way with orderly 
decency receives scant consideration. It Is only 
when he walks In the forbidden path or when he 
stumbles and falls that he provokes comment. One 
must be a freak or a criminal to get free advertis- 
ing. Do right, and you must pay to get your name 
In print; do wrong, and you must pay to keep it 
out. Hence the recorded story of the human race 
is made up largely of an account of those events 
which are born of frailty and depravity. Much of 
it, therefore, Is devoted to the wars men have 
waged against each other. 

The early settlers of America engaged in three 
distinct conflicts. They had scarcely set foot on 
the shore when they began a struggle with the 
Indians, which lasted as long as the Indians lasted. 
Then when the several colonies became established 

(23) 



24 Moore's History of the States 

they fought each other; and, finally, when their 
territorial limits were fairly settled, they joined 
their forces and turned on poor old England. 

There is no occasion to discuss the merits of 
their assault on the Indians; it has none. They 
fought each other for the same reason that their 
descendants are still at it, because few were satis- 
fied with what belonged to them. 

We come now to consider that eventful strug- 
gle between the colonies and the mother country, 
known as the Revolution. It was so called because 
it was the culminating act of resenting long-en- 
dured oppression, and the term "revolution" most 
accurately describing the movement of the worm 
that turns. 

In the early stages of the controversy, a con- 
troversy which finally developed into a bloody war, 
the colonists took their stand on the principle that 
there should be no taxation without representation. 

Why England should have refused to satisfy 
them by granting a minority representation is hard 
to understand. It could have done no harm to let 
the Americans imagine they were taking part in the 
administration of their civic affairs. Most persons 
are content to have what they call a "voice" in 
their own government, just as minority stockhold- 
ers are usually satisfied when permitted to vote at 
the annual meeting of the company, though the 
minutes are written up in advance and the manage- 
ment conducted just as if they had remained absent 
or silent. It was this ceaseless desire to have a 
voice in the government that led the Democratic 



The Revolution 25 

party to nominate Mr. Bryan for the Presidency 
on three different occasions. 

England might have permitted American repre- 
sentatives to sit in ParHament, where they could 
have accomplished nothing because so greatly out- 
numbered; in the same way that Democrats are 
sometimes permitted to sit in Congress, and even 
to have the privilege of the floor, only to be voted 
down in the end. 

From year to year the burdens laid upon the 
colonies grew heavier, until at length their indig- 
nation became so intense that the merchants of 
Boston, New York and Philadelphia drew up and 
signed an agreement to import no more goods till 
the stamp act should be repealed. The parties to 
this contract were, however, promptly enjoined 
from maintaining it, the courts holding it to be a 
conspiracy in restraint of trade forbidden by the 
Sherman Anti-Trust Law. 

Aside from the political liberty it brought to the 
American people, the Revolution served a good 
purpose in affording to many an opportunity to 
gain renown. Many a great commander has died 
unknown to fame because he chanced to live in a 
peaceful era. Take an instance. But for a decade 
of unprecedented carnage in Cuba and the Philip- 
pines, the world might never have suspected that 
the military genius and heroism of General Leon- 
ard Wood was so vastly superior to that of the 
regular army officers over whom he was hurdled 



26 Moore's History of the States 

to distinction. Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty 
or give me death" speech might never have gotten 
on a talking-machine record if it had been uttered 
in an ordinary municipal campaign; but the senti- 
ment in favor of freedom which so generally pre- 
vailed immediately prior to the Revolution opened 
up a ready market for his patriotic orator}'. /\s 
perhaps some of our readers know, the call for 
liberty or death is not always heeded; the jury 
sometimes decides that you deserve neither, in 
which event a sentence to hard labor is imposed. 

The most conspicuous individual product of 
the Revolution was the commander-in-chief of 
the American army, George Washington. He 
became known as the "Father of his country," and 
the step-father of Colonel John Parke Custis, these 
being the sum total of his paternal pretensions. 

In his early boyhood, George, as he was fa- 
miliarly called by his father and the hired girl, 
suffered from a peculiar impediment in his speech, 
on account of which he declared he could not tell 
a lie; but being handy with his pen he managed to 
get along fairly well. Though history is silent on 
this point, we have every reason to believe he 
entirely overcame this infirmity when in later life 
he became a married man and a successful poli- 
tician. 

The best medical authorities tell us this incom- 
petency to articulate mendacious words and syl- 
lables is very rare, and is usually confined to infants 



The Revolution 27 

under the age of ten months. The only well- 
defined case in an adult that has ever been reported 
is, strange to relate, that of another and more 
recent President of the United States, whose 
speech was so uniformly free from any trace of 
prevarication that it was, by his own imperial edict, 
adopted as the standard of weight and fineness 
for all vocal utterance. Any statement that fails 
to conform to this measure of perfection is forth- 
with condemned and ofiScially stamped as unfit for 
family use. 

Washington Avas born on the 2 2d day of Febru- 
ary, 1732. By selecting that season of the year for 
his nativity he has endeared himself to the children 
of America for all time to come, inasmuch as the 
observance of the anniversary of his birth at that 
time gives them a day out of school. To this bit 
of foresight he is in a great measure indebted for 
the permanent place he occupies as "First In the 
hearts of his countrymen." 

George was a splendid specimen of physical 
manhood and established a record for throwing 
the silver dollar which has never since been seri- 
ously threatened. At a point near Washington 
City he tossed the coin from one bank of the Poto- 
mac River to the other. Many noted athletes 
have vainly tried to duplicate the feat. Their 
failure Is due. It Is explained, to the fact that a 
dollar does not go as far now as it did formerly. 
That may be true, but, on the other hand, it must 
be admitted that It goes very much faster. 



28 Moore's History of the States 

Washington was for so long a time and in so 
many ways Identified with American history that 
we shall get glimpses of him further along, as from 
time to time we cross his pathway. 



CHAPTER V 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

After a number of preliminary bouts, the main 
fight between England and her colonies was put 
on in the year 1775. They fought hard, but with 
no apparent advantage to either party until the 
following year; then something happened. Up to 
that time the Americans had been fighting, just as 
most of us do, because they were mad. Now it 
occurred to them they might as well get something 
out of it, so by common consent they all turned 
patriots and began a struggle for liberty. 

In June, 1776, a resolution was offered in Con- 
gress declaring the united colonies were able to 
take care of their own affairs, and notice was 
served on England that her assistance was no 
longer needed. 

Having determined to go into business for 
themselves, the colonists thought best to make 
formal announcement to the public. A committee 
was accordingly appointed to draw up a Declara- 
tion of Independence, which in purpose and effect 
was nothing more nor less thau a circular letter 
justifying the course they meant to pursue. 

Whenever two or more persons disagree and 
(29) 



30 Moore's History of the States 

break off the relations they have formerly main- 
tained, it is human nature to rush into print with a 
statement of the case before the other party has a 
chance to be heard. The trouble, of course, is 
always with the other party. When partners sep- 
arate it is nev^er the fault of the one who tells you 
about it; when an erstwhile loving couple is di- 
vorced, the detached individual who breaks the 
news to you is never in the least to blame. It was 
expected, therefore, that this declaration would 
contain some references to the British Crown not 
altogether flattering, and in this no one was dis- 
appointed. 

The paper was drafted in the m.ain by the chair- 
man of the committee, Thomas Jefferson, a repre- 
sentative from Virginia, who parted his hair in the 
middle and wore a flowered vest; in which two par- 
ticulars he closely resembled another well-known 
statesman of more recent times — the Honorable 
Timothy Woodruff. That, however, is about the 
extent of the likeness. Jefferson was a man of 
some ability, and in later life held several good 
jobs under and over the government he aided in 
forming. 

The Declaration of Independence is not just 
what we would have written had we been called 
upon to frame it; nevertheless it was fairly well 
prepared, and its purpose was so apparent that 
even the English caught its meaning. The style 
of the document is academic, as might have been 



Declaration of Independence 31 

expected from one who was not accustomed to 
preparing such papers. The colonists, it must be 
remembered, were not in the habit of conducting 
revolutions, as the people of the South American 
countries are to-day, so Jefferson lacked the train- 
ing of an expert revolution promoter. 

The Declaration consists principally of a bill of 
particulars, itemizing the many things King George 
had wrongfully done and wrongfully omitted to 
do. There are but two paragraphs of any special 
significance, the second and the last. 

In the first of these, Jefferson lays down what 
he designates as certain "self evident truths"; or, 
in other words, truths which testify in their own 
behalf. Some of them appear to be exceptionally 
poor witnesses. 

The first of these automatic convincers is, "all 
men are created equal." One thing is certainly 
true; either Jefferson was a poor judge of men, 
or else he had seen very few of them at the time 
of this writing. If in his day all men were created 
equal, the human factory must have been doing 
better and more uniform work than it is now turn- 
ing out. The men of the present generation are 
not only unequal to each other, but very many of 
them do not appear to be equal to anything. 

It is no reflection on the man who is not as good 
as others to say he was created below par, but it 
might be a reflection to speak of him as "a self- 
made man." Every day we run across people who, 
if created as we find them, are more to be pitied 
than censured. 



32 Moore's History of the States 

We are told, however, that it was merely a 
political equality which Jefferson taught; or, as it 
is sometimes expressed, all men are equal before 
the law. Perhaps they are, provided they keep far 
enough before it; but everybody knows it is a dif- 
ferent story when the law catches them, for jus- 
tice is blind and many take advantage of the old 
lady's affliction. 

It is further alleged that these men of uniform 
creation are endowed with certain inalienable 
rights, among which are "life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness." These are all useful com- 
modities, and it would save us no little anxiety if 
we could believe them inalienable; but how can 
we, when we see them alienated every day? How 
often it happens that a man is sent to the gallows 
because the jury returns a verdict that he has 
alienated his right to live, and, what is more, many 
who keep on living really have no license to do so. 

Those of our readers who have enjoyed the 
privacy of prison life can also testify that the 
right to have liberty may be alienated. There is 
little satisfaction to the poor fellow who is in jail 
to have his lawyer stand outside the grated door 
and read to him the Declaration of Independence, 
calling special attention to Jefferson's theory that 
the right to freedom cannot be parted with. In his 
case it is no longer a theory, but a condition. He 
knows very well his right to circulate has gotten 
away from him, and whenever he looks at his law- 
yer he is reminded, too, that his cash is headed in 
the same direction. What is the sense in talking 



Declaration of Independence 33 

about the inalienable right to pursue happiness 
when in almost every instance -vhere the restrain- 
ing hand of the law is laid upon us it is because 
we are engaged in chasing that very thing — happi- 
ness? Jefferson would have us believe there is no 
speed limit in such pursuit, but the fellow who 
throws wide open the valve of his joy-cart will 
surely be run in — if he does not stand in. 

The statute books are full of "thou-shalt-nots," 
which are directly intended to put the brakes on 
happiness hunters. Take, for instance, the anti- 
racing law. The man who patronizes the track 
goes there in pursuit of happiness. True, he sel- 
dom catches it, for, like the horse that carries his 
money, his movement is too deliberate. Most laws 
that abridge our pleasure are aunty laws. 

It is to preserve these rights, Jefferson says, 
that governments are instituted. That may be the 
theory, but it works very differently in practice. 
When one goes leisurely along his way some burly 
cop pokes him in the ribs with his stick and orders 
him to "step lively;" and if, perchance, he strikes 
a rapid gait, the same club brings him to a sudden 
halt. 

In this same paragraph the author of the Dec- 
laration has a bit to say about governments deriv- 
ing their rights from the consent of the governed. 
Everybody ought to understand that no one ever 
knowingly consents to be governed at all, except 
the man who contracts a second marriage. We 
readily consent to the government of everybody 
else, but never for a moment admit that wc need 



34 Moore's History of the States 

it ourselves. No penal statute was ever enacted 
except for the punishment of other people. 

A further examination of this document is not 
called for, and moreover It is out of place to talk 
politics In the midst of a bloody revolution. 



CHAPTER VI 

INCIDENTS OF THE REVOLUTION 

During the preliminary skirmishes, before the 
American army had been put on a fighting basis, 
certain sections of the country undertook to pro- 
vide local protection by organizing what were 
known as the "Minute Men" of the Revolution, 
companies so called on account of their ability to 
run a long distance in sixty seconds. 

One of the earliest and most memorable en- 
counters of the Revolution was the battle of 
Bunker Hill, near the city of Boston. The hill 
was given that name because the English found it 
so difficult to get over that to them it appeared 
very much like the obstructions found on golf links 
known as "bunkers." The British forces finally 
won the day, but all America was gratified because 
their own soldiers demonstrated their ability not 
only to fight with determination, but likewise to 
retreat with expedition. 

During the winter of 1775-6 the army of King 
George occupied Boston, the Americans, mean- 
while, assembling their troops around the city and 
fortifying their position. On March 17th the 
entire British force, under command of Sir Wil- 

(35) 



;^6 Moore's History of the States 

liamHowe, following the example set by the snakes 
of Ireland on a previous March 17th, moved out. 
It was a great victory for General Washington and 
was won without the loss of any powder and lead. 
Congress promptly gave him a vote of thanks and 
a gold medal. Without detracting in the least 
from the credit due to Washington, it does look as 
if the thanks and medal should have gone to Howe 
and congratulations to the American. 

Shortly after this, the scene of the contest was 
shifted to New York City. The relative position 
of the contending parties was likewise shifted; 
here the reinforced army of Howe did the sur- 
rounding act, and it was up to George to do the 
moving. This he did to the Queen's taste, but not 
to the satisfaction of the King; for Washington 
proved to be not only a skillful fighter, but, what 
was equally annoying to his foe, a most agile and 
elusive mover. His ability to get away from 
places did much to prolong the fighting strength 
of his army. It was a habit of his to be out when 
his British cousins called. 

When pursued by the greatly superior numbers 
of the enemy Washington retreated from Long 
Island to Manhattan, thence to the Bronx and still 
on to White Plains, going from bad to worse, and 
finally from worse to New Jersey. Nor did the 
journeying end there ; he kept going until the Dela- 
ware River was reached and put between him and 
the British. 

In this round of the fight Howe had Washing- 
ton groggy and hanging on the ropes, and but for 



Incidents of the Revolution 37 

the latter's splendid foot-work and the skill with 
which he covered up, he would have taken the 
count then and there. Howe did not follow up his 
advantage with a great amount of energy, and 
thus lost the best opportunity he ever had to score 
a knock-out. The bell saved Washington, who 
came up in the next round fresh and strong. 

Benjamin Franklin and others were sent as com- 
missioners to France, where they not only suc- 
ceeded in enlisting the sympathy and support of 
the government as such, but likewise created such 
enthusiasm among the people that many of them 
came to i\merica and volunteered their services in 
behalf of freedom. The most conspicuous of these 
was the titled Lafayette, whose splendid ability 
and valor materially aided the cause of the pa- 
triots. To square this international account and 
discharge America's obligation to France, we re- 
cently gave her Jimmie Hyde. 

The revolutionary struggle continued until the 
year 1782, when hostilities were suspended. We 
might fill many pages with a recital of the battles 
that were won and lost, as other great historians 
have done, but what is the use? This history 
would then be like theirs — the very thing we are 
trying to avoid, for in that event there would be no 
excuse for its existence. 

Suffice it to say, then, the i\mericans won their 
first professional fight, and have ever since held 
the championship against all comers. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE CONSTITUTION 

The United States, as they were thereafter to be 
called, had won their liberty; now the question 
was, what to do with it? The only form of gov- 
ernment which had held them together was em- 
bodied in the Articles of Confederation, which 
were neither understood nor worth understanding. 
7'he Articles provided for a Congress, having 
vested in it both legislative and executive powers, 
which it might fully exercise, provided no one 
raised objection. There was no Senate, because 
the people at that time were too poor to be 
Senators. 

Perhaps the most important exclusive privilege 
of this Congress was the right to make war and 
peace. The principal occupation of most Con- 
gressmen to-day is making war, if we accept the 
definition of a very eminent military authority that 
"war is hell." They raise it when they are candi- 
dates for election, and kick it up when they convene 
at the National Capital. It is the only means by 
which some of them are able to attract attention. 

The United States had no President at that 
time. How things have changed ! Now there are 

(38J 



The Constitution 39 

periods when we have little else in the way of a 
government, all the other departments being main- 
tained for his sole use and benefit. 

It soon became apparent that a better form of 
government was needed than that secured under 
the Articles of Confederation, else liberty would 
not be worth the price paid for it. A Constitu- 
tional Convention was accordingly assembled, first 
at Annapolis and later at Philadelphia. This body, 
after a long and painful discussion, adopted, in 
1787, a Constitution, which, with some alterations 
and repairs, is still in existence, though seldom con- 
sulted. A great part of it is as good as new, be- 
cause it has been so little used. The hardest wear 
and strain to which it is subjected comes from the 
effort of public officials to bend and stretch it to 
cover their own plans and purposes. If any of our 
readers should care to peruse this historic docu- 
ment, a fairly well preserved copy may be found 
in the Congressional Library at Washington, 
where it is kept that the members of Congress 
may have ready access to it whenever they care to 
violate it. 

Theoretically the Constitution is a sacred thing 
to the average American. Whenever a public offi- 
cer has administered to him an oath, he is sworn 
to support the Constitution. This he pledges him- 
self to do in the most solemn and impressive man- 
ner, though in ninety-nine cases out of one hundred 
he would not know the Constitution if he were to 
meet it in the road. It would be infinitely better, 



40 Moore's History of the States 

we sometimes think, if they were sworn to support 
their families and keep the eighth Commandment. 

The Constitution starts off with a very well 
phrased preamble, which is about the only portion 
of the instrument that has not been explained away 
or mutilated by executive interpretation. 

Article I provides for the establishment of the 
legislative branch of the government, consisting 
of a Senate and a House of Misrepresentatives. 
The members of the latter, It Is declared, shall be 
elected every second year; which clause the people 
do not always observe, for many of them are de- 
feated the second year. The Senators were re- 
quired immediately after their first assembling to 
divide themselves into two classes. There Is noth- 
ing, however, to prevent the public from classify- 
ing them as they see fit. Few are therefore looked 
upon as first class, while many are inclined to ar- 
range them In two groups, bad and worse. Each 
house has the right to determine whether its own 
members have any qualifications; and Is required 
to keep a journel of its proceedings, and from time 
to time publish such portions as may be fit to print. 

The Constitution prescribes that no title of 
nobility shall be granted by the United States. 
This was intended to prevent the creation of dis- 
tinctions which would tend to destroy the universal 
equality declared In the Declaration of Independ- 
ence as the basis of popular government. The 
intent of this provision is commendable, but its 
wisdom may be questioned. It Is the avowed pur- 
pose of all our legislation to build up American 



The Constitution 41 

enterprise and to supply our home market as far 
as possible with domestic productions. Yet here 
we have an organic law in the direct interest of the 
foreigner, since it compels the importation of an 
article that might just as well be manufactured at 
home. Vast sums are annually spent in the old 
country by certain American women, who have 
more dollars than sense, in the purchase of Dukes, 
Princes, Counts and other useless bric-a-brac. 
Why should they not be permitted to squander 
their cash at home? Besides, we have a lot of 
half-witted, impecunious youths, of questionable 
morals, who are a menace to the public welfare; 
all of whom, with a little night-school training and 
fashionable grooming, could be titled and made to 
compare favorably with the imported article, and 
they could be sold at a rate that would put them in 
reach of the girls of moderate means. 

By this same clause all persons holding any 
office of profit or trust under the United States are 
forbidden to accept any present or emolument from 
any titled foreigner. There has never been the 
slightest necessity for any such inhibition. That 
particular class of foreigners has never been in the 
donating business. They are all receivers, not 
transmitters. 

In this connection it may not be out of place to 
suggest, as a protection against fraudulent impor- 
tations, that it might be well to prohibit the bring- 
ing in of any foreign title which has not first been 
inspected and approved by some responsible Title 
Guarantee Company. 



42 Moore's History of the States 

By Article II of the Constitution the executive 
power of the government is vested in the President. 
The framers were without experience and there- 
fore surmised incorrectly that no one man could 
be expected to do more than see that the existing 
laws are faithfully executed, hence this simple duty 
was the only burden imposed on the President. 
Time, however, and some people, have demon- 
strated that the President is amply able to make 
and construe all the laws, as well as to look after 
their administration. To maintain Congress has 
indeed come to be looked upon as a needless ex- 
pense. True, the formality of enacting a federal 
statute is still left in the hands of that body, but 
permission to act must first be obtained from the 
White House. The final test of the fitness of a 
Senator or Representative to continue in his posi- 
tion of responsibility has come to be the readiness 
with which he acquiesces in the expressed will of 
the Chief Executive. Moreover, it matters little 
what a statute may or may not contain, for what- 
ever is desired can easily be read into it by the 
modern device of executive construction. 

Among the powers vested in the President by 
the Constitution is the right to require the principal 
officers in each executive department to submit 
their opinions to him in writing. The courts have 
held, however, that in some cases it would be 
against public policy, as well as against the peace 
and dignity of the state, to require these officers to 
submit their written opinions of the President him- 



The Constitution 43 

self. The change of the preposition makes a big 
difference. 

The President is likewise empowered, by and 
with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make 
treaties and to appoint ambassadors and other im- 
portant officials. While this provision was re- 
garded in the early history of the government, no 
modern, up-to-date President who has his job well 
in hand ever seeks the advice and consent of the 
Senate. That body may sometimes be permitted 
to honor itself by giving its approval to what the 
President has already done, but in latter years it 
never presumes to give advice. What does a plain, 
ordinary Senator know about the affairs of state, 
any way? 

One of the duties imposed on the President is 
that he shall from time to time give Congress in- 
formation. By a typographical error some copies 
of the Constitution were made to read "give Con- 
gress inflammation," and one of these, it is be- 
lieved, has gotten into the White House by mis- 
take. 

The Vice-President, whose office is created by 
the Constitution, is not a regular player on the 
team, but is carried as a sort of substitute or utility 
man. He is very much like the extra tire strapped 
on the rear of an automobile, which is looked upon 
as a nuisance, and of real value only in case of 
puncture. Henry Clay is quoted as having said, 
"I had rather be right than be President;" every 
live man says, "I had rather be wrong than be 
Vice-President." 



44 Moore's History of the States 

The Constitution is not a lengthy document. It 
treats of the fundamental principles of govern- 
ment, and is written for the most part in plain 
English. Although put into effect on the 4th day 
of March, 1789, the leading politicians, lawyers 
and jurists have been occupied ever since in their 
efforts to construe it. The courts undertake to tell 
us what it means; the lawyers, what it does not 
mean, while the politicians fluctuate as the occasion 
may require. 

It has been made the excuse for gigantic blun- 
ders and many crimes and misdemeanors have been 
committed in its name. 



CHAPTER VIII 

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS 

The Constitution of the United States has 
already suffered fifteen different amendments, 
which were adopted in the ordained way, to say 
nothing of the still greater number of unwritten 
modifications accomplished by political surgery 
and executive legerdemain. 

The first amendment forbids any attempt by 
Congress to establish religion or to restrain the 
free use of the same. This is a wise provision 
indeed, for if there is any one thing the average 
Congressman knows less about than all else, it Is 
religion. 

It would be a nice sort of Confession of Faith 
that a congressional committee on Systematic The- 
ology would report for the prayerful consideration 
of that devout congregation! Just imagine the 
sulphurous fumes that would arise from a heated 
discussion of the doctrine of Infant Baptism or 
Total Depravity between Uncle Joe Cannon and 
John Wesley Gaines in the House, or between Sen- 
ators Ben Tillman and Boise Penrose at the other 
end of the Capitol! The chances are they would 
all be Calvlnlsts, for politicians believe In election, 

(45) 



46 Moore's History of the States 

though many of them practice the Methodist doc- 
trine of "falling from grace." And when It came 
to separating the sheep from the goats the mem- 
bers of the party which happened to be In the 
minority would have to line up with the can-eaters 
every time. The American people want free re- 
ligion, but if Congress were allowed to regulate 
it, there is not a Republican in either house who 
would permit It to remain on the free-list. They 
have already put a heavy duty on Bibles and 
prayer-books. 

This same amendment says Congress shall enact 
no law "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the 
press." It is agreed that no man's freedom may 
be abridged while he speaks, but there is no good 
reason why he should not often be required to 
abridge his speech. An habitual Indulgence In the 
free and unlimited coinage of speech Is further- 
more In violation of the eighth amendment, which 
forbids the infliction of "cruel and unusual punish- 
ment." Talk Is cheap, and It is one of the few 
luxuries many of us can afford; nevertheless the 
man whose perpetual loquacity converts him Into 
a nuisance should be required to hire a hall, where 
he could talk to himself without disturbing his fel- 
low creatures. And the same rule might also be 
applied to some women, for they are at times over 
zealous in their vocal exertions. There Is no sub- 
ject to which the labor unions could better devote 
their attention than to the establishment of shorter 
working hours for public speakers. There may be 



Constitiitioiial Amendments 47 

some excuse for Marathon races, but none for 
Marathon talking contests. 

There Is not the same element of danger in the 
freedom of the press. The man who has a pair of 
good ears cannot avoid hearing things which may 
be spoken in his presence, but he can read that 
which is printed or let it alone as he sees fit. True, 
he usually does read such books and papers as 
chance to fall into his hands, which he does for the 
very purpose of ascertaining whether he cares to 
read them. Then if he cares, and he seldom does, 
it is already done ; if he does not care, it is then too 
late. However, he has no one but himself and his 
own curiosity to blame. 

Amendment IV is intended to preserve the 
sacred privacy of our homes, a privilege univer- 
sally esteemed by civilized people. It forbids an 
unreasonable search of our homes by any one ex- 
cept the plumber and the man who reads the gas- 
meter. These, of course, may enter with or with- 
out breaking at any hour of the day or night, Sun- 
days and holidays not excepted. It would be the 
cause of inconceivable annoyance to most house- 
wives to keep their places of abode in shape for 
inspection from one year's end to the other. In 
what constant state of suspense they would be kept 
if their curious neighbors were not restrained by 
the Constitution from going through the place at 
will and discovering how poorly it is cared for! 
They would not feel free to spend their forenoons 
and a part of their money shopping and their after- 
noons and the rest of it playing bridge, meanwhile 



48 Moore's History of the States 

permitting the unlaundered dishes to remain on the 
table, their cast-off garments to hang across the 
foot of the unmade bed, and the kitchen towel to 
adorn the back of the morris chair. On account 
of the peace of mind it secures to these poor, over- 
taxed feminine toilers, if for no other reason, we 
should be thankful for this life-saving amendment. 

In recent years constitutional lawyers have 
been more or less perplexed in their efforts to de- 
termine whether this guarantee against the un- 
reasonable search of one's home may be pleaded 
by the occupant of a modern flat. In other words, 
is a pigeon-hole a house? While the question has 
not been directly before a last resort, the flat is 
conceded to be one, and the trend of authority 
seems to favor the view that the man who lives in 
a flat is not entitled to any protection or considera- 
tion of any kind whatsoever. Nor is this an un- 
reasonable conclusion; for, whatever may befall 
him, while he and his wife, their thirteen children, 
a mother-in-law and the intermittent hired girl are 
all crowded into four eight-by-ten rooms and a 
dumb waiter, he certainly has no room to complain. 
Furthermore, flat-dwellers spend a good portion 
of their time flat-hunting, to enjoy which pastime 
to the fullest extent the right of entry and inspec- 
tion must never be denied them. But for the op- 
portunity thus afforded very many of them Avould 
know little of indoor life. And who, pray, but a 
flat-hunter by profession would ever want to search 
a flat? 

The fifth amendment is of the greatest impor- 



Constitutional Amendments 49 

tance to many of us, concerning, as It does, the 
manner in which persons charged with crime may 
be tried and convicted. Among other things it 
provides that no one shall be deprived of life, lib- 
erty or property without due process of law. This 
clause is especially aimed at lynching and mob 
violence. It may not be generally known that when 
one incurs the displeasure of the community and is 
forthwith strung up to a limb without the formality 
of a trial his execution is unconstitutional, and is 
therefore null and void; and upon application 
being made by his administrator the transaction 
will be promptly reversed and set aside by the 
Supreme Court. If the hanging was a success, it 
is difficult to put the victim in statu quo, neverthe- 
less It Is a source of satisfaction to his widow to 
have It judicially declared that her pendent hus- 
band's hesitation to depart this life in the manner 
prescribed was entirely justified by the Constitu- 
tion, and that he was unlawfully kept In suspense. 
Another clause of this amendment forbids the 
taking of private property for public use without 
just compensation. The words "just compensa- 
tion" have by common consent been construed to 
fix the full value of the property so taken for pub- 
lic use as the minimum amount to be paid for It, 
leaving the owner free to get as much more than 
It Is worth as he may be able to procure through 
political manipulation. There is nothing. Indeed, 
which so greatly stimulates an advance in real 
estate values in any particular locality as the gov- 
ernment's announcement of Its desire to acquire a 



50 Moore's History of the States 

post-office site at or near that spot. A better pur- 
pose might have been served if this clause had been 
so framed as to prohibit the taking of public prop- 
erty for private use without compensation. Public 
officials sometimes appear to overlook the impor- 
tance of that doctrine. 

The taking of private property for the private 
use of some one other than the owner, without con- 
sent or compensation, is not prohibited in so many 
words by the Constitution, but there is a decided 
prejudice against the practice among those who 
have property. 

Still another amendment provides that "in all 
criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the 
right to a speedy and public trial." This might 
have gone further and secured to the convicted 
criminal the right to enjoy a speedy execution. As 
it is these pleasures are ofttimes unreasonably de- 
ferred. Unfortunately no uniform standard of 
speed has ever been established in this matter by 
any competent tribunal. In New York, for in- 
stance, the progress of the criminal courts is so 
very deliberate that one charged with murder may 
count himself lucky if he reaches the electric chair 
before the public has forgotten the nature of the 
offence for the commission of which he was sen- 
tenced. 

The last three amendments were adopted for 
the exclusive use and benefit of the discolored pop- 
ulation. Concerning these we shall have some- 
thing to say further on, when we have occasion to 
discuss the dark side of our citizenship. 



CHAPTER IX 

Washington's administration 

It now became necessary to organize the govern- 
ment under the provisions of the Constitution. 
The people of the United States, having deHvered 
themselves from one George, immediately turned 
to another. A President was to be elected, and 
they very naturally felt that the man who had led 
them in their successful struggle for liberty should 
be given the first chance to try his hand at the job. 
The public has always been ready to bestow office 
on a military or naval hero while his halo is in 
good working order. It would have been impos- 
sible to defeat General Grant at the time he first 
came before the people as a candidate. Admiral 
Dewey could have had the Presidency when he 
came back from h;s triumph in Manila Bay. But 
when he gave away the house which was presented 
to him by his worshippers, they began to fear he 
could not be trusted with the White House. 
Colonel Roosevelt got a running start in the Span- 
ish war that carried him over the political hurdles 
into the Governor's mansion at Albany. He was 
smart enough to ask for something good while the 
eyes of the people were still filled with the smoke 

(51) 



52 Moore's History of the States 

of battle. In the same manner Washington was 
chosen as first President of the United States with- 
out a dissenting voice. 

When it was ascertained there would be no 
opposition and his election was accordingly as- 
sured, Washington very wisely declined to be a 
candidate for the office, thereby saving the expense 
incident to conducting a campaign. He remained 
at his country home at Mount Vernon, on the 
southern bank of the Potomac River, anxiously 
awaiting the surprising news of his election, which 
he knew could not fail to arrive. At length he 
received a long-distance call from New York City. 
Taking up the phone receiver he learned from an 
enterprising reporter that Congress, which was 
then doing business on Wall Street, had completed 
a canvass of the vote and found he had been elected 
President and John Adams Vice-President. Then, 
after he had the message repeated to avoid mis- 
takes, he broke the news to Mrs. Washington, who 
at once began to wonder what she would wear to 
the inaugural ball. 

With becoming reluctance Washington accepted 
the position proffered him by his countrymen, and 
hastily climbed into his touring car, which had been 
kept in readiness at the garage for just such an 
unexpected emergency. He threw the throttle 
wide open and in an instant was off for the seat of 
government, accompanied by half a dozen secret 
service men and a like number of press representa- 
tives. His progress was greatly impeded by the 
marked attention paid him along the journey by 



Washington's Administration 53 

the persistent office-seekers and bicycle cops. At 
length, however, he reached New York, where on 
the 30th day of April, 1789, he was sworn into 
office. His inaugural address was delivered from 
the steps of the sub-treasury building, but it was 
heard with difficulty because of the clamor kept up 
by the curb brokers. 

One of the first questions to engage the attention 
of the new President and the members of Congress 
was the fixing of their own salaries. Just as Wash- 
ington had declined to be President before he ac- 
cepted the office, so now he did not desire to be 
paid for his official services, but accepted compen- 
sation to avoid wounding the feelings of his sup- 
porters. It was agreed he should have twenty-five 
thousand dollars a year, and each Congressman 
should have six dollars a day, which scale of wages 
was satisfactory to the law-makers' union. This 
allowance was extremely liberal, when it is consid- 
ered that very few of them could in that day earn 
the same amount in any other employment. 

After consultation with a number of the poli- 
ticians of his own party, the President announced 
the members of his Cabinet. At that time there 
were but four executive departments to provide 
with heads. Thomas Jefferson was made Secre- 
tary of State; Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of 
the Treasury ; Henry Knox, Secretary of War, and 
Edmund Randolph, Attorney General. It will be 
observed there was no Postmaster General. The 
office was created later and offered as a prize to 
the politician raising the largest campaign fund; 



54 Moore's History of the States 

but, as we have before remarked, Washington had 
no opposition, needed no such fund, and therefore 
had no political debt of that nature to discharge. 
Hence no Postmaster General was appointed. 

When Hamilton took charge of the affairs of 
the treasury he found the country's bank account 
overdrawn to the extent of about twenty-five mil- 
lion dollars. This amount would give us little con- 
cern to-day, but at that time it was no easy matter 
to take care of it. Hamilton set to work to devise 
some method by which this indebtedness might be 
met and means procured, also, for current require- 
ments. He very soon restored public confidence 
by saying to the creditors of the government, 
"This is an honest debt we owe you, and rather 
than cheat you out of it, we are willing to owe it 
to you for all time to come. We propose to give 
you our promises for the full amount of the Indebt- 
edness already contracted, and then sell you some 
more promises in order to raise a fund to meet our 
present necessities." This was a masterly stroke, 
and the Inauguration of a financial policy which at 
once made It possible for the country to owe an un- 
limited amount. 

Hamilton's method of providing for the current 
expenses of the government by marketing promises 
has since been so generally adopted by the several 
States, likewise by county and municipal authori- 
ties, that we have become an immensely prosperous 
and rich people on the strength of our great and 
accumulating Indebtedness. It has, in later years, 
even become the practice of private corporations 



fVashington's Administration 55 

and individuals to capitalize their ability to owe 
and convert it into ready money. Nor is it at all 
necessary to arrange for the ultimate redemption 
of these obligations, for when they mature new 
ones may be given in exchange for the old, and this 
process of renewal continued from time to time 
until the coming of the day of judgment, when, if 
the advertised program is carried out, all evidences 
of debt will be destroyed by the high temperature 
expected to prevail at that time. 

In conformity with the plans of the Secretary of 
the Treasury, different means were resorted to for 
the collection of an amount sufficient to pay the 
interest on the debts contracted by the general gov- 
ernment, and also to pay himself and others in the 
public service. The first definite step taken was to 
levy a tax on domestic whiskey. Every man who 
was anxious to aid his country devoted such time 
and means as he could spare to the consumption 
of this debt-paying fluid, and one's patriotism was 
measured by the quantity he drank. Americans 
have in this manner established a record for patri- 
otic zeal seldom equaled. Some, of course, have 
not given their unqualified sanction to this method 
of liquidation, while a few temperance gramma- 
rians have even gone so far as to call the tax on 
whiskey a sin-tax. 

About the same time that whiskey became a 
financial agent of the government a mint was estab- 
lished at Philadelphia for the coining of the pre- 
cious metals. The mint and the whiskey being thus 
brought together in the service of the country, the 



56 Moore's History of the States 

combination led to the accidental discovery of the 
mint-julep, which has ever since been regarded as 
an unfailing cure for poverty. Those who are 
familiar with the use of this favorite remedy tell 
us that it matters not how poor a man may be, 
when it is taken in sufficient quantities this wonder- 
ful concoction produces a condition of boundless 
affluence, the patient becoming the owner of every- 
thing in sight. 

As another means of assisting the United States 
treasury the levying of duties on imports was 
adopted. This method was then held to be desir- 
able because it was believed it would afford a much 
needed temporary protection to America's infant 
industries. The principal difference betv/een a 
direct and an indirect tax is that they are called by 
different names. A tax is paid annually and is 
usually collected by an officer of the government, 
who makes no attempt to deceive you; a duty is 
paid daily and is ofttimes extracted from your 
pockets without your realizing what is happening. 
A tax is compulsory, and must be paid whether you 
are disposed to do so or not; a duty is voluntary 
and may be avoided by any one who is content to 
live without food or raiment. 

There was a time when the question as to who 
really pays the tariff was a most fruitful theme of 
political discussion. In recent years, however, we 
have not been so much concerned about who pays 
it as about who gets it. 

During the administration of Washington the 
United States made rapid strides in material devel- 



Washington's Administration 57 

opment. In some of the States lying Immediately 
along the Atlantic seaboard the population became 
so dense that a week seldom passed without some 
traveler being seen on some one of the main thor- 
oughfares between the more important cities and 
towns. This congested condition became unbear- 
ably oppressive to the older settlers who had been 
accustomed to plenty of elbow room. Besides, it 
adds considerably to the cost of living to be so situ- 
ated that your every-day life is subject to the criti- 
cal gaze of your neighbors. One has to wear bet- 
ter clothes and more of them, and do a great many 
things that might be omitted if dwelling in solitary 
seclusion. The result of this overcrowding was 
that a great number of people began looking to 
the unoccupied territory of the West. 

Until about the year 1790 it was all a question 
of immigration, then it became one of emigration. 
The majority of those who contracted the "western 
fever," as it was called, made their way to the State 
of Ohio, which was at that time as badly infested 
by Indians and wild animals as it is now by Repub- 
licans and office-seekers. 

At the end of Washington's first term the ques- 
tion arose as to his eligibility to re-election. The 
Constitution was silent on that point, but, since the 
President happened to be in favor with the people, 
it was, of course, decided that he should remain on 
the job. Had the first President incurred the dis- 
pleasure of the majority public sentiment would 
doubtless have framed an unwritten law that no 



58 Moore's History of the Stales 

man should hold the office for more than a single 
term. 

Again Washington had no opposition and there- 
fore no difficulty in repeating his performance of 
winning by a unanimous vote. While in some re- 
spects that was very gratifying, yet lie missed a 
good deal in never being permitted to experience 
the satisfaction of beating some one else in a politi- 
cal contest, and the people were deprived of the 
excitement incident to an active Presidential cam- 
paign such as we now have. It was, moreover, a 
hardship on the political camp-followers, who 
quadrennially get a summer's board and car-fare 
for loafing round national headquarters under the 
false pretense of conducting an educational cam- 
paign. 

If there ever was a pension department worked 
over-time, it is the one conducted by the national 
committees of the several parties. All the per- 
sonal followers of the chairman who happen to 
be out of a job and anxious for remunerative indo- 
lence are paid to look wise and issue political fore- 
casts, based on their own ignorance and the sup- 
plemental misinformation sent in from time to time 
by their stupid and partisan field-agents. 

There is still another army of parasites known 
as "spell-binders." These ranters are usually 
chosen on account of their lung power, and are 
taught to make a noise like political reform. The 
only thing that prevents them from invariably ac- 
complishing the defeat of the candidate they repre- 
sent is the fact that his opponent is in most cases 



JVashington's Administration 59 

advocated by a like number of wind pedlers quite 
as bad, if not worse, and it is hard to vote against 
both. That Washington was twice unanimously 
elected was doubtless due to the fact that no public 
speaking was done in his behalf, otherwise some 
votes would surely have been cast against him. 

The last four years of Washington's administra- 
tion were comparatively uneventful. The people 
were busy and fairly well satisfied. It was only 
necessary to let them alone, and that Washington 
was wise enough to do. 

When the close of his second term was reached 
Washington's relatives and some others were of 
the opinion that he should still be kept at the head 
of the government, but he did one of the sanest 
things of his career when he declined the honor and 
pronounced himself unalterably opposed to a three- 
term rule. It is a wise man who knows when to 
get off, without waiting for the conductor to call 
out his station. It was not a sure thing that Wash- 
ington would be again elected if he consented to 
run for the place, for toward the close of his ad- 
ministration considerable opposition had devel- 
oped to his policies. Who can say that the mere 
possibility of some rival candidate securing a ma- 
jority of the votes had nothing to do with George's 
decision against a third term? He was human. 
His successor stood for the same things and got 
all the votes that would have been cast for Wash- 
ington, and perhaps some that would have been 
cast against him, yet he went in by a majority of 
only three electoral votes over his nearest oppo- 



6o Moore's History of the States 

nent. This merely suggests that Washington may 
have read the poHtical skies with prophetic vision, 
and this makes it difficult to draw the line between 
his modesty and his timidity. At any rate, what- 
ever the motive may have been, he won our eter- 
nal gratitude by establishing a precedent that has 
since been useful in blocking the aspirations of 
other two-termers who were perfectly willing to 
take a chance on breaking the long-distance record. 
Some of us can indeed recall times when we had 
occasion to regret deeply that Washington had not 
taken a decided stand against a second term, and 
thus have provided an argument against the re- 
nomination of some Presidents we have had. 



CHAPTER X 

ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN ADAMS 

During the latter term of Washington's Presi- 
dency a misunderstanding arose between France 
and England of sufficient importance, as they 
seemed to feel, to justify an effort toward mutual 
extermination. Having recently come to our as- 
sistance when the pugnacious John Bull was trying 
to punch the head off the then inexperienced Uncle 
Sam, France very naturally looked to America for 
like assistance; but there was nothing doing in that 
line. Washington said, "We must hold ourselves 
aloof from European wars. We must mind our 
own business." It was all right for France to make 
our fight her business, but that, you know, was 
different. The theory of Washington was that we 
should never hitch up with another government 
unless we happened to need it in our business. 

All Americans were not agreed concerning the 
attitude we should assume toward France. They 
are never all agreed about anything. Some 
thought it a good time to pay off our debt to 
France, and others still had been fighting the In- 
dians and the English for so long a time it had 
gotten to be a habit with them, and they welcomed 

6i 



62 Moore's History of ihe States 

any good excuse to hurt somebody. As a result 
the people became more than ever before divided 
into two political factions, and for the first time in 
our national existence we had a real political con- 
test when it came to electing Washington's succes- 
sor. The administration forces groomed John 
Adams and entered him as the representative of 
the "My Policies" stables. He went to the post a 
long favorite over Thomas Jefferson, a promising 
colt that had shown good speed at shorter dis- 
tances. Adams won, but not in a walk, nor even 
in a canter. The long-legged, sorrel-topped Vir- 
ginian gave him the race of his life and was at his 
heels when he passed under the wire. 

President Adams was a native of Massachusetts, 
in which State he was born in the year 1735, at 
Braintree — a tree that is far too rare, and whose 
cultivation should be encouraged by the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. Block-heads may be made 
from any kind of wood, but Presidential timber 
should be hewn only from the brain tree. The 
grandfather of John Adams was one of eight sons. 
No wonder John was elected, if he got the vote of 
the entire Adams family. 

While President Adams was a man of acknowl- 
edged culture and ability, his administration was 
not fruitful of any act which marked it as particu- 
larly brilliant. It must, however, be remembered 
that he was greatly handicapped by the fact that 
he was the candidate of the administration, and 
was elected on the pledge that he would carry out 
its policies. A man who goes into office tied hand 



Administration of John Adams 6^ 

and foot by the promise that he will attempt to be 
nothing more than an authorized imitation of his 
predecessor has a sHm chance to make a name for 
himself. If he keeps his pledge, he simply follows 
in a beaten path and gets no credit for anything he 
may do ; and if he does not keep it, and fails to win 
the people over to the independent course he may 
elect to pursue, he is called a traitor and an ingrate. 
To get a conspicuous place in political history one 
must do something different from the other fellow. 
Of course the man who keeps the affairs of the 
government moving along in a quiet and orderly 
manner may be the best kind of a President, but 
what is the use of being President if you are not to 
be talked about? And what is the use of doing the 
best thing for the government if you are to get no 
personal glory out of it ? 

The truth is, very little occurred while Adams 
was working at the Presidency. The best thing 
that happened was that nothing happened to hap- 
pen. For a while it looked as if France and the 
United States might be signed up for a bout, but 
fortunately a very shrewd gentleman, named Na- 
poleon Bonaparte, about that time acquired a con- 
trolling interest in the French government and 
called off the contest. He had enough sense to see 
it was better for his purposes to have the United 
States remain neutral than drive them into a 
friendly alliance with her (France's) arch-enemy, 
Great Britain. 

It was in the last year of Adams's Presidential 
attempt that the seat of government was moved to 



64 Moore's History of the States 

Washington. In New York the distractions of 
Wall Street and the Great White Way interfered 
with the conduct of public business, while in Phila- 
delphia it was difficult to get a quorum on account 
of the near-by attractions along the board-walk at 
Atlantic City. It was therefore believed the pub- 
lic officials would have fewer temptations on the 
banks of the Potomac River, there being no diver- 
sion there to speak of except fishing, and that for 
the summer months only. 

One wing of the Capitol building was now ready 
to be occupied. Of course we could not expect to 
have a well-balanced Congress while it had the use 
of only one wing. It did not make as much prog- 
ress as noise. 

Many dissensions had arisen among the people, 
some even in the President's Cabinet; all this had 
a tendency to stimulate politics, for politics thrives 
on discord. Astatesman becomes a politician when- 
ever his views meet with serious opposition. 

The so-called anti-federalists were casting about 
for a name that would more effectually commend 
them to the common people at the approaching 
election, for the common people were in the ma- 
jority. They have always outnumbered the un- 
common, which accounts for the deep concern felt 
for them by the candidate for office. At length 
they began to call themselves Republicans, or Dem- 
ocrats, and, to catch them going and coming, their 
organization was termed the Democratic-Repub- 
lican party. 



Administration of John Adams 65 

At that time there was no distinction whatever 
made between Democrats and Republicans. While 
they are supposed to be widely separated, the truth 
is there are few who can tell the difference between 
them to-day. There Is no trouble, of course, to tell 
to which party our leading politicians belong, for 
they are separated by a very substantial fence. 
The political clover patch is enclosed; the Repub- 
licans are Inside the fence and the Democrats are 
outside, and it is this partition upon which they are 
working when we hear politicians speak of giving 
attention to their political fences. 

John Adams was a poor fence builder. When 
his four years' lease expired the rails were badly 
scattered. Thomas Jefferson had rallied the hun- 
gry outsiders and threatened to invade the unpro- 
tected field. 

In 1800 Adams was renominated by the Feder- 
alists, with Charles PInckney as his running mate. 
The Republicans put up Thomas Jefferson and 
Aaron Burr. How painful it must be to the Jeffer- 
sonlan Democrats of this generation to know that 
the first time their political Idol was elected Presi- 
dent he ran as a Republican! And he did some 
very tall running too. He and Burr finished a dead 
heat eight laps ahead of the other pair. 

The Democratic-Republican candidates easily 
beat their opponents, but they had not beaten each 
other, which put it up to Congress to determine 
who should have the first prize and who second 
money. Again the result was a tie. After thirty- 



66 Moore's History of the States 

six ballots Jefferson won out and Burr became 
Vice-President. 

It was a good chance for some poor Congress- 
man to make a little money, but we do not say It 
was done. 



CHAPTER XI 

JEFFERSON AND MADISON 

The election of Jefferson came as an affirmative 
reply to the campaign inquiry, "Shall the People 
Rule?" He was of aristocratic birth and the pos- 
sessor of a pretentious lineage. In his early man- 
hood Jefferson was afflicted with the manners and 
habits of a dude, but this he outgrew and became 
the commonest leader of the common people. "Me 
for the simple life" was his war cry, for the simple 
people were largely in the majority. 

Jefferson washed the powder from his face, and 
never put it on again. He ripped the lace from his 
coat, made carpet-rags of his fancy waistcoat, sub- 
stituted leather shoe strings for silver buckles and 
full-length, home-spun trousers for satin knicker- 
bockers. By a marvelous transformation the 
painted and perfumed fashion plate became the 
organizer of the one-gallows gang. 

On the occasion of his inauguration he declined 
the use of the official carriage, and rode along 
Pennsylvania Avenue astride an ordinary plug, 
which had neither gift of gait nor pride or pedi- 
gree. There was no liveried groom nor stable 

67 



68 Moore's History of the States 

chambermaid to attend him. He simply fell in 
with the crowd and became one of the boys. 

Upon reaching the Capitol he hitched his horse 
to a wireless telegraph pole, delivered a brief in- 
augural address and forthwith returned to the 
White House for business. Those of our readers 
who failed to attend this function missed one of the 
best things of its kind ever pulled off in the city of 
Washington. 

The etiquette of the White House was likewise 
subjected to radical modification. All formal 
functions were abandoned and the red tape which 
had been so much in evidence was wrapped in 
moth-balls and stored in the basement. The prin- 
cipal duties of the President's Social Secretary 
were to sweep off the front porch and shake out 
the door-mat. Anybody could get an audience, but 
not always an office. 

Even the White House table was simplified; 
there was no tortiie verte a I'Anglaise, but just 
plain, old-fashioned soup. Instead of pommes de 
tcrre potatoes were served, while Virginia Smith- 
field ham, corn bread and buttermilk completed 
the menu. 

Jefferson's administration was distinctly parti- 
san. And why should not all administrations be 
the same? The purpose of an election is to deter- 
mine what the people want. When they express a 
preference for a certain kind of government there 
is but one thing to do; give it to them, and give 
them plenty of it, even if it does make them sick. 

While serving as President Jefferson conducted 



Jefferson and Madison 69 

an extensive real estate business. France had ac- 
quired from Spain a large boundary of land known 
as the Louisiana Territory, which Napoleon, who 
was in immediate need of a little money, was offer- 
ing for sale at a great bargain. Jefferson bought 
it for the United States, paying, it is alleged, the 
sum of fifteen millions of dollars. At any rate that 
is the price at which the transaction was entered on 
the books, and the sum which was withdrawn from 
the treasury. 

This deal, strange to say, has never been inves- 
tigated by a Congressional Committee hunting for 
graft. The purchase proved to be a most profit- 
able one, and certainly no one could complain of 
giving fifteen millions for more than one-fourth 
of our entire territory, when we have since given 
the same country forty millions for an unfinished 
hole in the ground at Panama. 

The acquisition of this new territory greatly 
stimulated further explorations and settlements in 
the far West. A company of fur dealers, man- 
aged by one John Jacob Astor, of New York, es- 
tablished the town of Astoria on the Pacific coast, 
which proved to be an immensely profitable trad- 
ing post. Thus the elder Astor laid the foundation 
of a vast estate by buying and selling skins, and 
some of the tenants of his wealthy descendants 
claim the Astors are still running a skin game. 

It was while Jefferson was President that the 
political quarrels of Alexander Hamilton and 
Aaron Burr became so bitter that they found it 
impossible for both of them to occupy the same 



70 Moore's History of the States 

world at the same time. They agreed therefore 
to engage in a shooting match to determine which 
one should vacate. It fell to Hamilton's lot to 
depart, and thus ended his brilliant career. Ham- 
ilton wielded a ready and forceful pen. He was 
the author of many of hia own writings, as well as 
of some of the best speeches Washington ever de- 
livered. 

Because he proved to be a better shot than 
Hamilton, Burr was hunted from one hiding place 
to another until finally captured, tried and ac- 
quitted, though never forgiven. If Hamilton had 
been more expert at the game he undertook to play 
with guns, the whole story might have been re- 
versed. Strange as it may seem, the relative skill 
of these two men in the art of trigger-pulling de- 
termined once for all which one history should 
record as the murderer and which one the martyr. 

Jefferson was encored at the end of his first term 
and compelled to do it over. Before the close of 
his administration a great many things happened, 
some of them on his account, and some in spite of 
him. 

It was about this time that Robert Fulton in- 
vented the automatic water-wagon. His was the 
first successful attempt to build a boat that would 
do its own paddling, and did not give a cent which 
way the wind might blow. 

After Jefferson's retirement from the Presi- 
dency he founded the University of Virginia, an 
institution which has turned out many notable men. 



Je§erson and Madison 7 1 

Its reputation might have been better if some of 
them had been turned out sooner. 

James Madison, who succeeded Jefferson as 
President, was, like the latter, elected by a large 
majority. It is related that on the occasion of his 
inauguration he wore an American-made suit of 
clothes, manufactured from home-grown wool. 
Being an advocate of a high protective tariff, he 
did this, we are told, to emphasize his purpose to 
give ample protection to the American lambs 
against the pauper sheep of other countries. 

About the only event of Madison's administra- 
tion deserving of special mention was the second 
war between the United States and Great Britain. 
\ o the signal victory of the Americans in that con- 
flict every well-informed Englishman points with 
pardonable pride. The trouble grew out of the 
practice of English vessels in taking seamen from 
American ships and pressing them into service, 
unless they could prove they were not subjects of 
Great Britain. To be sure, then, as now, every 
man was eager to refute the charge that he was an 
Englishman, but the proof was not always at hand. 

The American people who were not more inter- 
ested in the profits of commerce than in the protec- 
tion of American citizenship agreed that this im- 
pressment should be stopped. On the advice of 
Madison Congress accordingly declared war on 
June 1 8th, 18 12. 

That war of 1812 was a peculiar sort of strug- 
gle. Most Americans seem to have very little 
accurate knowledge of it; at any rate it is not their 



72 Moore's History of the States 

favorite topic of conversation. American histo- 
rians shy at the story, and pass it over with scant 
consideration. Such brief account as may be given 
is directed to the naval operations, while as a mat- 
ter of fact the engagements on land made up the 
larger part of the encounter. 

We have schooled ourselves to speak of it as a 
magnificent triumph of American arms; yet out of 
the mysterious silence that has been steadfastly 
maintained a well-defined suspicion has come that 
we did not administer the most severe chastise- 
ment. Not that there was any difficulty whatever 
about our punishing England, and punishing her 
well, but somehow we just did not have the heart 
to do it. 

When one reads of the different battles and 
observes how we so often declined to do anything 
to wound our foreign guests he cannot fail to ap- 
preciate American chivalry. 

There was one commander, however, who was 
woefully lacking in military courtesy: that was 
General Jackson. He seemed to get it into his 
head that there was no harm in bagging a few Red 
Coats in the open season. He faced the English 
at New Orleans, where his ill-mannered men 
pointed their guns straight at the enemy when they 
fired. The result was the English became dis- 
gusted and refused to fight any longer. 

In 1 8 14 English and American commissioners 
came together and arranged a treaty of peace, 
which provided for running a line between the 
United States and the British possessions in Amer- 



Jefferson and Madison 73 

ica. Until that time few people had ever heard it 
intimated there was any trouble about this line. It 
remained therefore for the Commission to advise 
the soldiers what they were fighting about. The 
question of impressment, about which they thought 
they were fighting, was overlooked entirely in the 
final settlement. 

This is perhaps the only time on record where 
the victorious party got whipped, and In the con- 
cluding treaty yielded the only point for which it 
had contended. 

We must be excused from saying more concern- 
ing the war of 1812, for a truthful account of that 
conflict adds nothing to the glory of American 
arms, and this book refuses to be either untruthful 
or un-American. 



CHAPTER XII 

FROM MONROE TO BUCHANAN 

After Madison had drawn eight years' salary 
from the United States Government the privilege 
was transferred to another Virginian who needed 
money. On March 4th, 18 17, James Monroe 
backed up his moving van at the door of the White 
House and proceeded to unload his goods and 
chattels. 

Other Presidents had added to their prestige by 
enlarging the territory of the United States; so, 
for the want of something easier to do Monroe 
followed the example and bought an alligator farm 
at the southeastern extremity of our possessions, 
known as the Florida Peninsula. Aside from this, 
the principal thing he did to keep his memory green 
was to take out letters patent on a new political 
doctrine to which he gave his own name. By the 
Monroe Doctrine it was declared that the Ameri- 
can continent should not thereafter be further sub- 
ject to colonization by European powers. It was 
as safe to say that as to declare that England 
should not be colonized by the Laplanders, for, 
outside the territory belonging to the United 



From Monroe to Buchanan 75 

States, practically all the habitable portions of both 
North and South America were already staked out 
and claimed by the European nations. 

It was lucky for Monroe that it had not oc- 
curred to the Indians to lay down that doctrine 
before his ancestors came over from the other side. 
Had the Red Skins stationed a reception commit- 
tee at Ellis Island and other points of landing, with 
instructions to enforce the Monroe Doctrine with 
their tomahawks against all European colonizers, 
we might now have fewer evidences of modern 
civilization, but the Hshing and hunting would cer- 
tainly be better. 

How like the human animal it is for one to be- 
come convinced a certain practice is wrong after he 
has gotten all he can out of it and some one else 
proposes to do the same ! When the Monroe fam- 
ily had gathered its full share of American coloni- 
zation James thought it time to hang out the "Seats 
All Taken" sign. Just as our highly self-esteemed 
and nearly generous Scottish-American citizen, 
Andrew Carnegie, after skimming all the cream 
his own vessels will hold, sees no earthly reason 
why Uncle Sam should longer bother about keep- 
ing a protective-tariff cow. 

It was in the latter part of Monroe's administra- 
tion that the question of slavery made its first pro- 
fessional appearance on the political stage. Maine 
and Missouri rang the bell of the Union and sent 
in their cards at the same time. The former was 



76 Moore's History of the States 

as pronounced in its opposition to slavery as the 
latter was in favor of it. The FVee-State members 
of the family said to Missouri, "You cannot come 
in," while the Slave-States said to Maine, "We have 
enough of your kind in the house already." The 
Congressional Record of the period does not read 
like the minute book of a love feast. The contro- 
versy was long, loud and lacerating. Then an 
agreement was reached under which both terri- 
tories were permitted to come into the Union, the 
opinion prevailing that they would counterbalance 
each other, and thus maintain the parity of the pros 
and antis as it had previously existed; with the fur- 
ther provision that all the rest of the Louisiana 
Purchase should forever remain free territory. 
Congress put itself on record as declaring the in- 
stitution of slavery to be all right in Missouri but 
an unpardonable iniquity north of 36° 30'. The 
line between sin and righteousness was never more 
definitely drawn. 

At the conclusion of Monroe's second term the 
electoral vote was distributed among four different 
patriotic individuals who expressed a willingness 
to assume the arduous duties of the office. No one 
of them secured a majority; the result therefore 
was for the second time left to be determined by 
Congress. John Quincy Adams was finally chosen ; 
but the selection was not immensely popular, for 
he had not polled the largest popular vote. It was 
indeed intimated by some that the methods adopted 



From Monroe to Buchanan 77 

by Congress In determining the controversy would 
have done credit to a modern State Legislature in 
selecting a United States Senator; an Insinuation 
which, of course, was indignantly resented by the 
now almost extinct species of American citizen who 
believes Congress can do no wrong. 

The new President was not personally objec- 
tionable; but, being the son of his father, John 
Adams, the second President, many of the common 
people had serious misgivings concerning the gen- 
uineness of his democratic spirit. He was a man 
of scholarly attainments, but by no means an ac- 
complished politician. Nor was the period of his 
official career overburdened with achievement. 
The story of his four years' endeavor might be 
omitted entirely from the history of the country 
without seriously disturbing the connection. 

Like his distinguished father, the second Adams 
managed to keep all the political enemies he had 
at the beginning of his term and to add sufficiently 
to their number to prevent his re-election. His fol- 
lowers were obliged to renominate him to justify 
their former stand In his behalf; but this time the 
opposition was united and put up Andrew Jackson 
on a straight Democratic ticket — that Is to say as 
straight as anything can be in politics. He made a 
hot fight, won out and went Into office on March 
4th, 1829. 

Old Hickory, as Jackson was called on account 
of his toughness, believed that the offices at his 



78 Moore's History of the States 

disposal should all be filled by the best men obtain- 
able; and he also believed, even more firmly, that 
the best men obtainable were all Democrats. It 
was not long, therefore, till the politicians of his 
own party were feeding at the government trough, 
while those who had been in charge were required 
once more to work for a living. He declared that 
in politics, as in war, "to the victor belongs all he 
can spoil," or as the same idea used to be expressed 
by the early hunters, "the horns and the tail go 
with the hide." 

In 1837 Martin Van Buren succeeded Jackson 
in the Presidency. We are told that he followed 
in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor. It 
could not have been a difficult task to locate the 
trail, for Andy had a way of putting his brogan 
down with a firmness that made a distinct impres- 
sion. At the end of Van Buren's term it was his 
boast that the country did not have a national debt 
nor a national bank. Since then both institutions 
have come into existence, and both have attained 
enormous proportions. Whether the national debt 
is the cause or effect of our banking system we can- 
not undertake to answer in a book that retails for 
a dollar and fifty cents. 

The administration of the next President, Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison, was perhaps freer from 
mistakes than that of any one else who ever held 
the office. He lived only thirty days after his 
inauguration, and was the first Chief Executive of 



From Monroe to Buchanan 79 

the United States who was considerate enough to 
give his understudy a chance to show what he could 
do. It was the first time the people had been 
afforded an opportunity to cash a bet on the second- 
choice entry. 

No one who voted for John Tyler as Vice-Presi- 
dent expected him to occupy the White House : in 
this they were mistaken. When he became Presi- 
dent no one thought his administration would 
amount to anything: this time everybody guessed 
right. It had never occurred to the American 
people that John Tyler was a really great man until 
the year 1908, when he was tardily awarded his 
proper place among the few who have made the 
world famous. In that year a reunion of the Tyler 
family was held in the State of Virginia, when 
a resolution, offered by Lyon G. 7'yler, was 
adopted, in which it was declared that the Tylers 
constituted the most illustrious branch of the hu- 
man family, and that President John Tyler was the 
most wonderful product of all the ages. 

The opposing candidates for the high office at 
the next election were Henry Clay and James K. 
Polk. The former had, in an unguarded moment, 
expressed himself as preferring to be right than 
to be President; and the people, having gotten the 
impression that he could not be both, in conformity 
with his expressed desire, did not insist overmuch 
on his taking the job, but conferred it on Polk, who 
made no effort to conceal the fact that he would 



8o Moore's History of the States 

rather be President than have all the human 
virtues. 

It Is doubtless a good thing to be right, and we 
would not discourage the few who are consistently 
working at It, but think of the opportunities the 
President has to do the people good! 

There were other Presidents between the ad- 
ministration of Polk and the eventful period begin- 
ning In the year 1861, but we do not recall who 
they were, nor do we find their names recorded In 
any of the first-class histories or almanacs to which 
we have access. It is not important, however, that 
they should be remembered, for they accomplished 
nothing within the period of their oflScIal lives. 
The kindest attention that can be shown to some 
people is to forget them. 

The inquiry will naturally be made, did the peo- 
ple of the United States during that period accom- 
plish nothing but the election of their Presidents? 
And have we no history outside the events which 
happened in connection with the occupancy of that 
office ? In reply it must be admitted that within the 
half century last mentioned many men and women 
lived and died who never knew what it was to pre- 
side over the destinies of this great country; and 
some of them were very worthy citizens, too. Just 
as there are multitudes in the United States to-day 
who hold no office and yet are at times most useful. 
Without them it would not be possible to have 
political mass-meetings or torch-light processions. 



From Monroe to Buchanan 8i 

It was in this period of comparative quiet that 
the first railroad construction began. It cannot be 
said that trains were run for many years there- 
after, for they traveled at a pace which would not 
justify the use of a descriptive term implying 
speedy movement. They did not "run." In mak- 
ing application for the charter of a road to be built 
between Baltimore and Wheeling it was boldly 
declared that upon its completion trains would be 
able to move from one of these cities to the other 
at the average rate of four miles an hour for the 
entire distance. This was, of course, looked upon 
as the wild exaggeration of an over-zealous pro- 
moter, which few believed would ever be realized. 
And yet, at the beginning of the twentieth century, 
all passenger trains, and some of the fast freights, 
running over the Baltimore and Ohio road between 
those points were actually scheduled to maintain an 
average speed even in excess of four miles an hour. 

In 1844 the invention of Professor Morse was 
put into practical operation and the first tele- 
graphic communication was established between 
Washington and Baltimore. Shortly thereafter 
the lines were extended in many directions, thus 
making it possible to gather and distribute more 
news than the average Ladies' Aid Society. Not 
many years later Cyrus W. Field, an enterprising 
New York store-keeper, conceived the Idea of 
opening up a similar rapid communication with the 
European countries by means of a submarine cable, 
thereby enabling us to convey to the English our 
fluctuating opinions of them without having to 



82 Moore's History of the States 

wait for the passage of the slow-going vessels 
which carried the mail. 

There is little satisfaction in hating a people if 
you are not in a position to tell them of it before 
your wrath has time to abate. Curses, like cakes, 
lose their flavor when they grow cold. It is for 
that reason that every wife insists upon having a 
telephone direct from the home to her husband's 
ofl'ice. When the desire comes over her to quote 
to him her latest estimate of his worth, especially 
on a declining market, she does not care to wait 
till the close of the day lest her opinion may change. 
It gives her infinite relief to call him up that she 
may call him down without delay. 

During the administrations of Jackson and Van 
Buren there was much wild speculation and result- 
ant disaster, due to the unsettled and inadequate 
monetary regulations then prevailing. As incred- 
ible as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that our 
public officials at that time knew as little about the 
principles of finance and banking as they did in the 
first decade of the twentieth century. 

The recognized authorities tell us our currency 
has never been sufficiently elastic. "Elasticity" is 
defined by a standard lexicographer as "the tend- 
ency to rebound." What, therefore, our leading 
financiers desire is a species of money that will 
rebound with greater dexterity. In times of panic, 
when the market value of securities goes down and 
the interest rate goes up, a few of our philan- 
thropic men, like J. Pierpont Morgan, who have 
been unselfishly devoting their time to the accumu- 



From Monroe to Buchanan 83 

latlon of great wealth to meet just such an emer- 
gency, rush forth at the psychological moment to 
dump their bags of gold into the break in the levee, 
thus averting the threatened devastation of the 
entire commercial area. These public benefac- 
tions, whereby the country is periodically rescued, 
win the plaudits of the people. But when the flood 
has subsided and from the calm repose of a re- 
stored confidence we look again upon the scene it 
will be seen that in performing this generous and 
heroic feat they made use of an "elastic" currency, 
which quickly rebounded, carrying with it a liberal 
portion of the alien currency with which it mingled 
on its brief errand of mercy. 

But we are told the country should be provided 
with a currency of still greater elastic quality, and 
at the same time both magnetic and cohesive, that 
it may come back more speedily and carry with it 
yet larger accumulations of a kindred substance. 

Gold was discovered in California in 1848. The 
news soon spread broadcast and the wildest excite- 
ment prevailed throughout the land. The follow- 
ing year found an army of fortune hunters on the 
move with their faces turned toward the West, 
dreaming of the fortunes in store for them. They 
were in store all right, and in most cases remained 
there. In a short time California was filled with 
hopeful strangers, and in some localities the sur- 
face was so disturbed by the picks and shovels of 
the busy prospectors that a stranger would have 
thought the State broken out with measles. Many 
of these people would have been better off had they 



84 Moore's History of the States 

used their picks to prepare the ground for a crop 
of corn or potatoes. 

Gold is still found occasionally in large quanti- 
ties by San Francisco aldermen and other public 
officials who know where to look for it. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE UNCIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION 

The Presidential term ot James Buchanan, 
which began on the 4th of March, 1857, was 
marked by nothing ot special consequence save 
the preliminary events which led up to the out- 
break of the War between the States. 

Concerning that dread struggle, born of human 
frailty and fraught with human sacrifice, and the 
brave men on both sides who valiantly fought for 
what they believed to be the right, we shall have 
little here to say. The historian may take liberties 
with those who lived and died in distant days, or 
even with the men who still survive, but he dare not 
deal with the departed heroes of a recent tragedy 
in a manner which comports with the spirit of this 
book; nor have we the slightest inclination to do 
so. We shall therefore pass over that dark period 
in our national existence with the most reverential 
silence, confining our comments to the causes of the 
war and some of its permanent results. 

Very soon after the first settlements were firmly 
established in America, some enterprising citizens 
embarked in the importation of African slaves. 
No one in this country being engaged at that time 

85 



86 Moore's History of the States 

in the production of slaves, they were admitted 
free from duty and were so eagerly sought that the 
traffic became immensely profitable. 

When slavery was first introduced into America 
there was no opposition to it except from those 
who owned no slaves, and their objection was 
based on the commercial advantage it was sup- 
posed to give to such as made use of them. The 
institution itself was indeed seldom discussed ex- 
cept in its commercial aspect, just as the market 
price of mules and other pastoral ornaments were 
talked about. 

For some reason, climatic or otherwise, the 
people of the Northern States have from the begin- 
ning shown a more decided inclination to cultivate 
the acquaintance of the almighty dollar than have 
the people of the South. Therefore it did not 
require the experience of many years to demon- 
strate to these men of keen monetary perception 
that the dark and aromatic human species, the 
negro, could not be grown and utilized profitably 
in the bleak New England climate. He was not 
constructed for the indoor occupations of that 
region, nor could he be readily induced to venture 
far from the glow of the kitchen fire when the 
frost was on the pumpkin-pie tree. 

The discovery of these symptoms of incurable 
hearth-stone devotion and unmistakable reluctance 
to toil save when limbered by the genial and pene- 
trating rays of a tropical sun, brought the Yankee 
slave-owner into a serious state of meditation and 
prayer. His conscience, no longer restrained by 



The Uncwil War and Reconstruction 87 

mercenary considerations, found scope for activity 
and accordingly began to bestir Itself. His heart 
was touched by the pathetic picture of these poor 
dependent creatures, abducted from their luxuri- 
ant homes of ease and refinement In the far-off 
jungles of Africa, and here made to toil for their 
food and raiment, just like the poor white trash 
of European birth. Instead of the delicate and 
invisible Salome costume with which they dec- 
orated their mahogany forms In the distant land 
of sunshine and boa constrictors, they were com- 
pelled to wear the ordinary fabrics of cotton and 
wool, and instead of feasting on cocoanuts and 
each other, with an occasional fricasseed ship- 
wrecked sailor on Sunday, they were given nothing 
to eat but the meats, vegetables and fruits of a 
Southern plantation. 

Realizing for the first time the sore oppression 
of his brother in black, the New Englander deter- 
mined to be no longer a party to this national 
crime. No public proclamation, however, was 
made of his deep-seated religious conviction. He 
simply whispered to himself, "If it be a sin to own 
slaves, then I shall get rid of mine." The Southern 
plantation being the only market in which their 
sins could be unloaded at a fair profit, there was a 
steady migration in that direction until all the 
slaves became residents of that section. Shortly 
thereafter certain localities, like all recent converts, 
began to contend zealously for the new faith into 
which they had come, and clamor for the liberation 
of the slave. Thus the negro passed out of the 



88 Moore's History of the States 

low realms of commerce into the higher and better 
realms of politics and religion. 

It has always been the practice of civilized man 
to argue about business, quarrel about politics, and 
fight about religion. We can therefore easily see 
that the delegate from Africa was fast becoming a 
casus belli, which being freely interpreted, means 
a poor excuse for a foolish fight. 

The two factions lined up and began to train for 
the scrap by making faces and calling each other 
hard names. It is simply out of the question to 
think of getting the best results out of a fuss with- 
out that sort of preliminary practice. Even in an 
ordinary bull fight the first essential is to get the 
leading animal in the show intensely infuriated. 

l^hose who contended for the freedom of the 
slaves were called Abolitionists. They were 
worked up to that pitch that something just had to 
be destroyed. If they could not abolish slavery, 
they proposed to abolish the slave-holder. 

But the people in the South got on the war-path, 
too. Not because they cared so much for the loss 
of their colored chattels, for most of them had 
long since learned that it required the services of at 
least two able-bodied negroes to produce what one 
would consume, but they did not propose to have 
other people tell them what they should or should 
not do. The super-heated blood of the Southern 
people had little chance to cool off; for the winters 
were short and they were not making ice by arti- 
ficial methods in that day. The question then arose 
whether one or more States of the Union could con- 



The Uncivil JVar and Reconstruction 89 

tinue a practice which was condemned by the other 
States. The slave-holding States declared that if 
they could not control their own affairs as mem- 
bers of the firm, they would dissolve the partner- 
ship, and act for themselves, but this the North 
insisted they had no right to do. Thus the whole 
controversy resolved itself Into a question of the 
right of one State to fight against another, and the 
impulsive South Insisted that she Intended to have 
the right to fight, even if she had to fight to procure 
It. And fight they did. 

What happened and how it ended everybody 
knows, though they do not all tell the same tale 
about it. I'he people of the North claim they 
whipped the Rebels, while the Confederates Insist 
they simply wore themselves out mopping the earth 
with the Yankees. At any rate there was little to 
be gained by the victors, for when the end came 
the South had nothing left to surrender. 

The people who suffered the greatest loss were 
the poor black creatures who lost their homes. It 
was like driving a herd of cattle from the pasture 
that they might enjoy the liberty of the commons. 
The negroes soon found that the plantation rations 
were not being issued with the same regularity as 
when they were supplied by their old masters. 
The smoke-house was locked and the chickens 
began to roost higher. To provide a roof for 
shelter, the raiment necessary to guard against 
sun-burn and freckles, and to keep the cupboard 
stored with such materials as were required to 
pass through the liberal openings in the counte- 



90 Moore's History of the States 

nances of the pickaninnies to satisfy the cravings 
of their elastic food repositories — all these were 
phases of free and untrammeled citizenship which 
had never before been given serious consideration 
by these newly made Americans. There was many 
a well-stretched hide that began to wrinkle and 
many a complexion that lost its polish for want of 
internal greasing. Slavery was wiped out and no 
one ever regretted it, except some of those who 
had thrust upon them the burdens of freedom. 

To provide against any possible renewal of the 
racial relation which had been abolished as a result 
of the war, the politicians got busy and secured the 
adoption of the thirteenth amendment to the Con- 
stitution, which makes slavery forever unlawful in 
the United States. In this amendment the precau- 
tion was taken to define the thing prohibited as 
"involuntary servitude," to distinguish it from the 
voluntary variety into which men enter when they 
contract marriage, against which the Constitution 
affords no protection. 

When it was later discovered that some of the 
proud Caucasians of the South still clung to the 
delusion that they were superior to their ebony 
fellow-citizens, the dominating party secured fur- 
ther legislation whereby the parity of the two races 
was fixed beyond all possibility of future misunder- 
standing. The fourteenth amendment to the Con- 
stitution made it perfectly plain that the negro was 
just as good as any other American citizen, and 
better than the men who had fought for the Con- 
federacy, for certain privileges were denied the 



The Uncivil War and Reconstruction 91 

latter until first subjected to political disinfection 
and fumigation by the Federal board of health. 

Prior to that time the people had not realized 
what miracles could be wrought by means of con- 
stitutional amendments. The omnipotence of 
legal enactment being thus demonstrated, it seems 
a pity that its elevating influence was not further 
extended throughout the animal kingdom. It 
would have been a graceful and humane act to lift 
the load of humiliation from the lowly jackass, 
an animal that has always been a beast of burden 
and denied social recognition in the equine four 
hundred, by declaring him the equal of the favored 
and feted Kentucky thoroughbred, and hence en- 
titled to all the consideration shown the latter. 
Slowly but surely the lower animals are coming 
into a better estate by the official sanction of our 
rulers. By one administration bruin's despised 
cubs were made household pets, while by another 
the 'possum, with his idiotic grin and unvarnished 
tail, has become the welcome guest in every patri- 
otic home. The frown of pessimism is replaced 
by the smile of possumism. 

At the close of the war there was little left of the 
South except the dismembered remnants of its for- 
mer self. These pieces had to be gathered up and 
the whole thing made over. Generations were 
required for its material rebuilding, but the section 
was immediately invaded by an outside delegation 
who undertook a sweeping political and social re- 
organization. This effort is known in history as 
Reconstruction. 



92 Moore's History of tJie States 

The active workers in this movement now ap- 
peared on the scene for the first time. They had 
been in hiding while the fighting was going on, and 
had accumulated a surplus of courageous energy — • 
while reposing in their storm cellars — which they 
felt it was perfectly safe to work off in the South 
after the muskets had been put away. 

These reformers were called by the Almighty, 
or some one else, to act as a reception committee 
to the newly installed American citizens, and inci- 
dentally to pick up anything that might be lying 
around loose that was worth carrying off. The 
purpose of these unselfish patriots could best be 
accomplished by holding office, and so they pro- 
ceeded consistently to hold office. 

These peripatetic statesmen were locally known 
as Carpet-baggers; not tramps, for tramps are 
sometimes honest. By coaching the liberated 
slaves they very soon changed the negro's igno- 
rance into arrogance, which brought on an epi- 
demic, causing the colored death rate to advance 
several points, and at the same time greatly in- 
creased the demand for wooden tombstones. 



CHAPTER XIV 

UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE 

Suspecting the pale-faces of the South might 
have some prejudice against surrendering political 
control to the negroes in those localities where the 
latter were in the majority, and might, for that 
reason, put some obstacle in the way of harvesting 
the colored vote, the fifteenth amendment was plas- 
tered onto the Constitution. While couched in 
very polite and parliamentary language, its mean- 
ing is simply that on election day a coon may legal- 
ly occupy as much space at the polls as a white man. 

The Southern people determined to show proper 
respect for this latest amendment, though they had 
not clamored for its adoption, reserving the right, 
however, to construe it for themselves. They per- 
mitted every colored gentleman to vote who 
wished to do so, but it frequently happened that, 
after listening to the persuasive arguments of his 
white friends, the desire forsook the said colored 
gentleman. The unbleached citizen has always 
been open to conviction and many have been con- 
victed — not enough, but a considerable number. 
He has been known to change his mind on a mere 
suggestion. When it was intimated to the average 

93 



94 Moore's History of the States 

darky that voting would not be conducive to his 
longevity he seemed to lose all interest in the result 
of the campaign and would ofttimes forget to put 
in an appearance at the polls. 

A peculiar thing about the darky is that he has 
a well-defined aversion to locating permanently in 
a graveyard. He is therefore disposed to avoid 
any undue exposure which might be calculated to 
accelerate his speed in the direction of his last rest- 
ing place. Instances are recorded where members 
of his race have suffered heart-failure on account 
of the violent exercise incident to a voting effort. 
Citing these cases in advance, with proper empha- 
sis, has been known to diminish the attendance and 
prevent suffocation at the polls. Not only so, but 
the negro is exceedingly proud of his highly pol- 
ished surface, and dreads the thought of losing 
any part of it. Animated political discussions are 
reported to have resulted in a partial dislocation of 
the cuticle, for which reason, also, he often re- 
frains from participating in a close election. 

But if, in spite of all these good excuses for 
remaining at home, the colored man insisted on 
performing his duty as a sovereign, his ballot was 
deposited in the ordinary way. It will, however, 
be observed that the fifteenth amendment estab- 
lishes no ratio to be followed in counting the white 
and the colored votes. When, therefore, any dan- 
ger of political infection was apprehended, the 
precaution was taken to sterilize the colored bal- 
lots as they were removed from the box. Further- 



Universal Suffrage 95 

more, the counting was always done at the close 
of the day, after the sun had gone down, when it 
is so easy, in the dim twilight, to overlook dark 
objects. 

The government of the United States Is founded 
on the theory that all the people who live under it 
are equal politically, except the feeble-minded, per- 
sons convicted of crime, and women. Some have 
taken exception to the classification of the women 
among the excluded. Dr. Mary Walker, Belva 
Lockwood and other self-made men have sacrificed 
a great deal of time and modesty combating this 
discrimination, and Mrs. Mackay and other ner- 
vous female celebrities have more recently gotten 
a good deal of free self-advertising out of their 
active support of the suffragette movement. 

Some of those who oppose female suffrage base 
their objection on what they see fit to call their 
"consideration" for the gentler sex, claiming it is 
not "lady-like" to elbow one's way through the 
hoi polloi waiting at the polling place. In answer 
to this, it may be cited that Berry Wall and Harry 
Lehr have voted time and again without losing 
any of their effeminate standing. Why then should 
we fear for the weaker sex? 

It will not do to allege that women should re- 
frain from taking part in political matters because 
they lack intelligence, or civic information, for it 
is admitted that not more than ninety-eight and 
one-half per cent, of the men who vote can be 
classed as mental giants, thoroughly versed in the 



96 Moore's History of the States 

science of government; yet the remaining one and 
one-half per cent, are not excluded from the privi- 
lege. Surely it will not be contended the women 
do not compare favorably with the latter! Then 
why their political silence ? 

The argument that a general extension of the 
right of franchise to the women would result in a 
desertion of the fireside and a woeful neglect of 
household duties will not bear analysis. It would 
most likely have just the opposite effect. Hus- 
bands would not go out every night for six weeks 
in advance of an election under the pretense of 
attending political meetings, if their wives had a 
good excuse to go with them. When the two heads 
of the house happened to be of the same political 
opinion, they could divide time on election day; or, 
when they differed, as would more often happen, 
how conveniently they might pair and both stay at 
home!^ Besides, they could make all their election 
bets with each other, and in that way keep the 
money in the family. The unmarried women 
would, of course, be unconcerned, for none of them 
would ever become old enough to vote. 

In this country the government consists in the 
will of the people who vote, and is maintained for 
the protection of our lives and property. A 
woman's life is worth as much to her as a man's 
is to him : why then should she not have something 
to say about the manner in which it shall be pro- 
tected or taken? Some women are the owners of 
property, too. When they pay their taxes and 



Universal Sufrage 97 

support their husbands in proper style, why should 
they not be permitted to have a voice in making the 
laws which regulate their estates? If a Napoleon 
of finance, like Mr. Carnegie, has the right to be 
heard, why not a Josephine, like Hettie Green? 



CHAPTER XV 

FROM JOHNSON TO ARTHUR 

When President Lincoln was assassinated, im- 
mediately following the close of the war, Vice- 
President Andrew Johnson became the Chief Ex- 
ecutive. Four years of unremitting struggle had 
widely separated the North and the South. The 
hope was therefore indulged that Johnson might 
be able to sew up the deplorable rent in the politi- 
cal garment, inasmuch as he had been a first-class 
tailor before he degenerated into politics. But the 
hope was vain, for in a short while he succeeded in 
bringing on a bitter fight between himself and Con- 
gress, a fight which resulted in an attempt to im- 
peach the President. The effort failed, but Con- 
gress hung no medals on the manly bosom of the 
White House tenant. 

Johnson's administration affords little material 
out of which a thrilling chapter for a history like 
this might be constructed. The purchase of 
Alaska from the Russian Government at a marked- 
down price was about the only thing accomplished. 
It proved a good investment, for the streams in 
that territory are abundantly stocked with fish, 

98 



From Johnsoji to Arthur 99 

which when caught are already packed in ice for 
shipment. 

Johnson was succeeded in office by General 
Ulysses S. Grant, who had won distinction as the 
leader of the Federal army; and as we have before 
stated, it is easy for a military hero to procure 
office. When President Grant was nominated for 
re-election in 1872 the dissatisfied members of 
his own party put up Horace Greeley, a well- 
known New York journalist, to oppose him. Gree- 
ley was endorsed by the Democrats, not because 
they liked him, but because he was running in op- 
position to the regular Republican ticket. Mr, 
Greeley, however, could not run a campaign as 
successfully as he could run a paper, and was 
defeated. 

It has always been a difficult matter for a jour- 
nalist or author to get into office. The subscriber 
to a paper falls out with the editor at least once a 
year, — when he has to pay his subscription, — and 
the man who writes a book at the same time writes 
his political epitaph. Greeley was no exception to 
the rule. He not only had the opposition which 
naturally belonged to one of his calling, but he like- 
wise cultivated hostility where it was not indige- 
nous. The manner in which he mowed his whis- 
kers, leaving a ragged fringe hanging limp over 
the edge of his collar — like weeping willows over 
a whitewashed fence — did not add to the beauty 
of his countenance, nor excite the admiration of 
the passing landscape gardener, and the transverse 
crease in his trousers, of ancient vintage, shocked 



lOO Moore's History of the States 

the ultra-fashionable. Furthermore, he had the 
annoying habit of telling the truth — a most un- 
usual and impolitic thing in a public man. Most 
persons do not wish to have ugly things printed 
about them. It is bad enough to have such things 
said, when they can be forgotten or denied, but it is 
infinitely worse to have them set in cold type to 
which one's enemies may point in after years. 

Greeley advised young men to go West. In this 
he was misunderstood. Inasmuch as he failed to 
go himself, the boys thought he was trying to get 
them out of the way that he might have the East 
all to himself. Some took a few doses of his ad- 
vice and shook the Atlantic States, but when they 
had proceeded as far as Missouri the ague in turn 
shook them. Many returned to their old homes, 
while others were left there, because it was cheaper 
to bury them than to get doctors' certificates and 
pay the freight on their inanimate bodies. That 
bit of advice lost Greeley many votes. The emi- 
grants who returned voted against him, those who 
remained in the West had no part in the election, 
for dead ones are voted only by the party in power 
when they are needed. 

Of course Greeley meant no harm in telling the 
people to go toward the setting sun, but it was an 
indiscreet suggestion to be made by a man of his 
experience. One cannot be too careful about tell- 
ing people where to go, for they like to select their 
own climate. Many a man has been rudely called 
to account for being too free in the matter of issu- 
ing passports to an unpopular destination. The 



From Johnson to Arthur loi 

safe practice is to leave the selection of a dernier 
ressort to the party contemplating its use. Greeley 
got some votes, to be sure, but not enough to inter- 
fere with his work on his paper. 

The close of President Grant's second term wit- 
nessed one of the most remarkable occurrences in 
the political history of our country. Rutherford 
B. Hayes became President of the United States 
without being elected to the office, thereby demon- 
strating a political ability which was not possessed 
by any of his predecessors. It is not a difficult 
thing to step into a position to which one has been 
called by the electorate, but to take charge of as 
good a place as the Presidency when it belongs to 
another is a performance worthy of profound ad- 
miration. Samuel J. Tilden, the Democratic can- 
didate, was chosen by the voice of the people, but 
a Democratic voice had not been heard for so long 
it was not recognized. 

As if he felt he was occupying a position that 
belonged to some one else, Hayes made little or no 
use of the prerogatives of the office. The student 
of history is not burdened when he undertakes to 
remember all that Mr. Hayes accomplished while 
acting as President. 

In 1880 James A. Garfield, the nominee of the 
Republican party, was elected to the Presidency of 
the United States. He had not been in office quite 
four months when he was shot down by a half- 
crazy low-brow, from the effects of which assault 
he died some sixty days later. 

The short time during which he filled the office 



102 Moore* s History of the States 

was enough to indicate very clearly that Garfield's 
administration would have been a stormy one had 
he lived to carry it through. Scarcely had he en- 
tered upon his duties when many of the recognized 
leaders in his own party were loudly proclaiming 
their disapproval of his avowed policies. The 
manner in which he was proceeding to make distri- 
bution of Federal patronage in certain localities 
caused no little friction. The two Senators from 
the State of New York, Roscoe Conkling and 
Thomas C. Piatt, had acquired the habit of having 
their own way, and, like spoiled children, wanted 
to keep it up. Conkling said, "If I am not to be 
consulted, I just won't play," and Piatt said, 
"Me too." ^ 

At that time Conkling was in the prime of his 
able and vigorous career. He was a man of splen- 
did attainments and great forcefulness, while Piatt 
was conceded to be second to none in political 
shrewdness. In their blind conceit they thought 
the State of New York could not get along without 
their presence in the United States Senate, hence 
they resigned and called for a vindication by re- 
election. But their bluff was called, and they were 
permitted to remain at home. 

The Empire State was so much irritated by the 
audacity of these two public officials, who under- 
took to assert that they were indispensable, that 
she has since taken it upon herself to demonstrate 
her ability to get along without any one to repre- 
sent her in the upper house of Congress. During 
the time this demonstration was being made the 



From Johnson to Arthur 103 

senatorial salaries were paid to the shadowy remi- 
niscence of this same Thomas C. Piatt and the 
inert remnant of Chauncey Depew, who were kept 
in Washington to vote as directed by certain inter- 
ests that sent them there. "Our Chauncey," as he 
was long called by his convivial admirers, was 
always a humorist and practical joker, but by far 
the most ludicrous effort he has ever made in that 
direction was his attempt to impersonate a states- 
man. Humor is all right in its place, but sending 
Chauncey Depew to the United States Senate was 
carrying a joke entirely too far. 

Upon the death of President Garfield, Chester 
A. Arthur, the Vice-President, became Chief Ex- 
ecutive. There have been stronger Presidents, 
and weaker ones, too; Presidents with a better 
knowledge of the principles of statecraft, and 
some with less; but no one ever held the office who 
was better versed in the art of being a gentleman 
than was Chester A. Arthur. He looked like a 
gentleman, talked and dressed like one, and, as a 
matter of fact, was one. He may not have dis- 
played superlative judgment in the selection of his 
Cabinet, but no man ever had a classier assortment 
of neckties or a finer line of trousers. 

If the United States had ever contemplated a 
change of form in its government, the change 
should have been made while Arthur was Presi- 
dent. What a handsome and ornamental King 
he would have made ! 



CHAPTER XVI 

FROM CLEVELAND TO m'kINLEY 

The campaign of 1884 was one of the most In- 
teresting and spirited through which the country- 
has passed in recent years. The Republican party 
nominated its favorite son, James G. Blaine, for 
the Presidency, and felt that the only thing to be 
determined upon was the size of the majority he 
would surely receive. Blaine was a man of splen- 
did ability, of attractive personality, and possessed 
of an unusual amount of that quality so important 
in political life known as personal magnetism, 
which made him immensely popular. 

There is something significant in the fact that 
Robert G. IngersoU, the brilliant apostle of unbe- 
lief, who spent his entire life undoing the work of 
others, was chosen to place the name of Blaine 
before the nominating convention. In doing so he 
made one of the captivating orations for which he 
was famous, in the course of which he referred to 
his candidate as the "Plumed Knight," a descrip- 
tive title which was caught up and worked over- 
time by the enthusiastic supporters of the ticket. 
The knightly qualities of Mr. Blaine will never be 
questioned by any who knew him, but where he got 

104 



From Cleveland to McKinley 105 

his feathers is not so easily determined. One 
thing we know, he engaged in a parrot-and-monkey 
fight, at the end of which he was a well-plucked 
bird. 

The Democrats selected as their representative 
in the race a man little known as a national figure, 
though it must be admitted he was well advertised 
before the campaign ended. Grover Cleveland 
had made a fairly good sheriff of Erie County, 
New York; no prisoners had escaped during his 
term of office, nor had his bondsmen sustained any 
loss on account of his default. As Mayor of the 
city of Buffalo he had shown a capacity for having 
his own way and permitting no outside interfer- 
ence. These things led up to his election as Gov- 
ernor of the Empire State, and finally he was made 
the Democratic nominee for President; not on ac- 
count of any particular fondness the party had for 
him, but for the sole reason that he seemed to have 
acquired the habit of winning, and the Democrats 
had grown tired of losing. 

Blaine made a sensational race. He had "the 
class" and was a showy performer. Cleveland, on 
the other hand, was awkward in his gait and lack- 
ing in speed; but he kept steadily going, though he 
did not take the lead till near the finish, when his 
last few powerful strides carrieci him under the 
wire a winner by a nose. 

The majority by which the Democratic candi- 
date secured the pivotal State of New York was so 
small that every man who had supported him took 
to himself full credit for the result. The relative 



io6 Moore's History of the States 

rights of these claimants were never accurately 
determined, but it required no court of inquiry to 
fix the responsibility for Blaine's defeat. 

It is interesting to note that while Blaine's Presi- 
dential hopes were started, as we have already 
said, by the speech of a man who had no belief in a 
future life, they were ended by the cloth-bound 
utterance of a devout clergyman who believed in 
little else. What but disaster could come of an 
endeavor with an agnostic at one end and a sky- 
pilot at the other! 

When the campaign was drawing to a close and 
the election of Blaine seemed assured, all sorts of 
people were tumbling over themselves in their 
haste to declare for the Plumed Knight. It is so 
human to want to take part in the celebration! 
A body of clergymen had assembled in New York 
City. Some one suggested it would be a good 
thing to call on the man so soon to be the President 
of the United States and pay him their respects. 
All agreed and it was arranged they should see 
the candidate at his headquarters in the old Fifth 
Avenue Hotel. 

On account of his self-confidence and lung 
power, the Reverend Dr. Burchard was selected as 
the spokesman of the delegation. He was anxious 
of course to say something that would attract at- 
tention. And he did. When the eventful moment 
arrived he stepped to the front and from some cav- 
ityhidden beneath his high-buttoned coat he poured 
forth a torrent of words that made his name im- 
mortal. Blaine was assured he had the undivided 



F?'07n Cleveland to McKinley 107 

support of all the "good" people, and those who 
opposed him were denounced as unrighteous and 
undesirable altogether. The enemies of good 
government who had grouped themselves round 
the opposing candidate were in the most orthodox 
clerical style divided into three classes. Cleve- 
land's following, it was alleged, consisted of an ac- 
cursed alliterative alliance, Rum, Romanism and 
Rebellion. 

If Blaine had dared act as his suppressed indig- 
nation inclined him to act, the Fifth Avenue Hotel 
would not have waited till 1908 to be demolished. 
He was quick to see that the blundering break of 
Brother Burchard was rank, rotten and ruinous. 
The Doctor himself was shortly filled with regret, 
repentance and remorse, while many good Repub- 
licans were thrown into a state of rage, resentment 
and revolt. The tide was turned. Blaine was de- 
feated. Mr. Cleveland has been charged with 
political ingratitude. That the accusation is not 
unjustly made would seem to be established by the 
fact that the good Doctor was never suitably recog- 
nized or rewarded by the President he had made. 

Since that time Presidential candidates have all 
shied at visiting delegations, particularly when 
composed of classes inexperienced in politics. It 
is only the call of the practical man that is pleas- 
ing. Many a man has wished his followers could 
be muzzled during the closing days of the cam- 
paign. One can guard himself against the attacks 
of his enemies, but is absolutely helpless in the 
hands of his fool friends. 



io8 Moore's History of the States 

No man ever went into office followed by a hun- 
grier horde of office seekers than that which gath- 
ered round Grover Cleveland when he entered the 
White House. There had not been a Democratic 
nose in the public trough for a quarter of a cen- 
tury, so it was no wonder they were all eager for a 
chance at it. The rush was hard on Grover, and 
hard on the Democratic members of Congress, 
too. For years every Democratic congressman 
had been privately promising every man who voted 
for him, and every widow, the appointment as 
postmaster of the community, whenever the oppor- 
tunity came to make a change in these offices. It 
was a safe promise; for the failure to make good 
was consistently charged to the narrow partisan- 
ship of the Republican President. But that excuse 
would not go when Cleveland got in. The people 
all demanded the jobs for which they had so long 
been working and waiting, but there were not 
enough offices to go round, and it was no easy 
task to explain why the goods were not delivered. 
In the rural districts political debts may be paid 
off in garden seeds, but nothing short of a post 
office is acceptable in the towns and cities. 

Cleveland did not exhibit any marvelous burst 
of speed in his effort to "turn the rascals out," as 
the act of dispossessing public officials is termed by 
the fellows waiting for their places. He spent a 
good portion of his time shooting ducks, when 
some thought he should have been gunning for Re- 
publicans. This of course subjected him to no little 
adverse criticism, and those who retained office un- 



From Cleveland to McKbiley 109 

der him came in for their share of abuse as well. 
No other man is ever fit to hold the job one wants 
for himself. 

The policy of the President may have been best 
for the country, but it was poor politics, as was 
shown when he stood for re-election four years 
later. The Republicans whom he permitted to 
continue in office were Republicans still, and voted 
against him when they got the chance to do so, 
while many Democrats who did not get the places 
opposed him to get even. And they had their re- 
venge. The verdict of the people at the end of 
his term was that he should gather up his gun and 
dog, his fishing rod and bait-jug, and move out. 

Benjamin Harrison, the nominee of the Repub- 
lican party, was elected in 1888. His principal 
claim to ciistinction consisted in the fact that he had 
displayed great wisdom in clioosing as his grand- 
father a man who had been elected to the Presi- 
dency, but who had held the oflice for so short a 
time that there seemed to be something coming 
to the family. "Little Ben," as he was called, set 
up his claim to the contingent remainder of the 
political estate of William Henry Harrison, and 
got it. Pending the campaign, he was pictured 
as parading in his grandfather's hat, many sizes 
too large for him. Just why no one knows, for 
grandpa Harrison's head never broke any circum- 
ferential records, while as a matter of fact Ben's 
cupola made him look top-heavy. Architecturally, 
"Little Ben" was not a pronounced success. His 
waist-line was too near the pavement; above it, he 



1 lo Moore's History of the States 

was man size; below it, he was only a boy's size. 
He was usually the shortest man in the crowd when 
the crowd was standing, but the tallest man among 
them when everybody sat down. His abbreviated 
supporting columns gave him a decided political 
advantage, for the successful politician must never 
permit his ear to get very far from the ground. 

When Harrison became President it appears 
that John Wanamaker was the highest responsible 
bidder for the appointment as Postmaster Gen- 
eral. Until that time he had been running an 
apartment store every week day, running a full- 
page advertisement of his special white goods sales 
in the papers every Sunday morning, and running 
a Sunday school every Sunday afternoon. He de- 
cided therefore to put in his spare time running for 
office. Being a business man and having full knowl- 
edge of the value of money, he collected and do- 
nated the sum of three hundred thousand dollars, 
which, with some ten or fifteen millions procured 
from other contribution baskets, was used by the 
national campaign committee to pay the postage on 
such literature as could not be franked by the Re- 
publican members of Congress without taking too 
long a chance of being caught. Wanamaker got 
the appointment of course. 

The other members of the cabinet were selected 
with the same consistent regard for their fitness 
and recognition of their generous impulses. 

The Presidential campaign of 1892 was unique 
in that the candidates for the office had each al- 
ready filled it. The public therefore had a pretty 



From Cleveland to McKinley iii 

good line on both of them. Between Harrison 
and Cleveland it was a question as to which had, 
during his term, succeeded in making the greater 
number of enemies, and it was impossible to vote 
against one without helping the other. Cleve- 
land had the advantage. Four years had passed 
since his retirement from public life, and many 
who were soured by his administration had died, 
and others had in a measure forgotten their griev- 
ances as well as their pledges that they would see 
him in Borneo before they would vote for him 
again. Not so with Harrison. He was still Presi- 
dent when the election was held, and the political 
sores occasioned by his official conduct had not had 
time to heal, and a majority of the disgruntled 
ones were still alive. When, therefore, the result 
was ascertained it was apparent more people had 
voted against Harrison than against Cleveland. 

The second term of Mr. Cleveland was entirely 
satisfactory to the Republican party, for his ad- 
ministration so effectually disorganized the Demo- 
crats it has ever since been difficult for them to get 
a quorum together on anything. Whether it was 
a success or failure depends upon one's opinion of 
the deceased party. The friends of the corpse sel- 
dom proffer a vote of thanks or other evidence of 
appreciation to the attending physician. 

During the latter part of the Harrison admin- 
istration the country began to show symptoms of 
financial disorder. Some fireside remedies were 
locally applied, but, no serious attention being paid 
to the ailment, the trouble spread and deepened 



112 Moore's History of the States 

until it finally broke out — a most malignant case 
of panic, accompanied by high fever and cold feet. 
The banks, which were created to afford security 
and stability, were the first to take to the woods 
when danger threatened. They seemed to think 
their only duty was to keep the money of their 
depositors, and they kept it all right, as they are 
in the habit of doing at such times. A bank, as 
every one knows, is an institution whose business 
it is to take care of your money when you do not 
need it, and take charge of it when you do. 

All the civic doctors and political quacks got 
busy diagnosing the case and prescribing for the 
patient. Some contended it was all due to defec- 
tive circulation, which to an extent was doubtless 
true, but what caused the stagnation was another 
question. There were unnatural obstructions in 
the monetary arteries of the body politic, produc- 
ing what is professionally known as varicose veins 
in some places, and collapsed ducts in others. 
These distentions were usually found around Wall 
Street and other financial centres, while the ex- 
tremities were practically bloodless. 

In every political campaign we hear a great 
deal about the per capita wealth of the country, as 
if that had anything to do with our business condi- 
tion. The average amount of wealth every man 
ought to have does him no good, if his share is in 
the pocket of some one else. It does not appease 
my hunger nor clothe my nakedness to have it said 
that Mr. Carnegie and myself are together worth 
four hundred millions of dollars, a per capita of 



From Cleveland to McKinley 113 

two hundred millions, if he has all of it and I lack 
the price of a breakfast or a second-hand linen 
duster. The aggregate wealth of the people of 
the United States is enormous, but who owns it? 
Search me ! 

At any rate, when the election of 1896 drew near 
everybody was talking finance; and the less they 
knew the longer and louder they talked. The 
Republicans were advocating what they called 
"sound money," w^hich in practice means simply 
that the multitude may catch the sound of the coin 
when it jingles in the pockets of the elect. The 
Democrats were crying for "free silver." That 
was a catchy slogan: the masses have always been 
the advocates of everything free. Most church- 
m.en believe in free salvation, and the less it costs 
them, the better they like it; the free lunch counter 
has done much to popularize the saloon; most 
persons jump at the chance to get a free ride, even 
if they have to walk back through the mud. Just 
so "free silver" listened good to the moneyless 
man, and even better to the fellow who does not 
feel inclined to work for his bread. 

It was in this state of low tide in business and 
high tide in political discussion that the two great 
parties met in their respectiv^e conventions in the 
summer of 1 896 to make their nominations. Som.e 
weeks before the convention assembled. Repub- 
lican sentiment had pretty well crystallized around 
William McKinley, of the State of Ohio, as the 
proper man to head the ticket of his party. He 
was a professional politician who, like many other 



114 Moore's History of the States 

public men, had been so busy minding the business 
of other people that he had neglected his own. 
The McKinley Bill was his most conspicuous prod- 
uct, but it was by no means the only bill he had 
made. Some objection was urged to his candidacy 
because of his indebtedness to numerous creditors 
and his lack of means to discharge these obliga- 
tions. But he had a very business-like acquaintance 
in his native State by the name of Mark Hanna, a 
man who was ever ready to help a friend or drive 
a bargain, or, better still, to drive a bargain while 
helping a friend. Hanna had money of his own, 
and knew how to get it from others as well. He 
came to the rescue of the prospective President, 
paid off his debts and financed his campaign; not 
without consideration, to be sure, for the advances 
were amply secured by a mortgage on the admin- 
istration. It is not an unusual thing for a man 
to make his mark, but in the case of Mr. Mc- 
Kinley it was different. His Mark made him. 

The Democratic convention met in Chicago. 
Nobody could guess in advance what its platform 
would be or who its candidate. Few of the dele- 
gates knew themselves what they wanted. They 
were not in favor of the kind of Democratic rule 
they had recently been having, nor would they hear 
to a surrender to the Republican party. What 
they thought they wanted was something new, 
something different, and "free silver" seemed to 
be the only thing in sight. The West was for sil- 
ver, and the West was in command of the situa- 
tion. The proceedings of the convention were 



From Cleveland to McKinley 115 

marked by a diversity of opinion and confusion 
of speech, until suddenly all eyes were fixed on a 
new face that appeared on the scene, and all ears 
were attracted by the sound of a new voice. It 
must be remembered, too, there were some long 
ears in that audience. In the midst of the restless 
multitude stood William Jennings Bryan, the man 
later known as the Disappearless Leader, a man 
who had whispered to himself that the time was 
at hand for him to show the way out of the wilder- 
ness. He opened his mouth and spake ; and from 
that day to this he has earned his bread by the 
sweat of his tongue. 

Bryan had scarcely grappled his audience when 
by a dexterous move he secured a strangle hold and 
pinned its shoulders to the mat, where it remained 
helpless till he relaxed his grasp. He was the elo- 
quent champion of free silver and labor. It was 
on that occasion he first used his famous copy- 
righted reference to the gold-plated cross and the 
crown of country-cured thorns with such deadly 
effect. Since then that speech has been committed 
to memory by every talking machine in the country. 

The scene which followed the delivery of Bry- 
an's great oration is indescribable. Mild-man- 
nered and sedate old men stood on each other's 
corns, and bellowed till their false teeth flew out. 
The boys from Butte and Death Valley tangled 
their spurs in the populistic whiskers of the dele- 
gates from the middle West. The women in the 
galleries stuck their chewing gum under the 
benches and screamed till they dislocated their 



ii6 Moore's History of the States 

false hair. Nor did the violence of the storm 
abate till the wild participants were quieted by 
their own complete exhaustion. The result of this 
political intoxication is an old story; Bryan, the elo- 
quent Nebraskan, was nominated for the Presi- 
dency, ev^en before the delegates had recovered 
from their turbulent delirium. He was then a 
mere amateur breaking into the professional ranks. 
Since then his work has stamped him as the most 
remarkable long-distance runner in all athletic his- 
tory. He could out-Marathon Tom Longboat, 
Johnnie Hayes and Dorando Pietri, running in 
relays. 

During the campaign Bryan journeyed from 
State to State, the multitudes gathering wherever 
he appeared, that they might catch a glimpse of 
this liberal dispenser of harmonious words. Mean- 
while McKinley sat on his porch in Canton and 
smiled a gracious how-do-you-do to the compara- 
tively few pilgrims who gathered there to greet 
him. It was on account of the attitude of these 
two candidates who were looked upon as the rep- 
resentatives of the two precious metals that the 
expression came into general use, "Speech is silver, 
but silence is gold." 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE SPANISH WAR 

The biggest thing that happened within the term 
of President McKinley was the Spanish war. It 
would hardly be proper to speak of it as the war 
against Spain, for that would imply a contest, and 
everybody knows there was no contest. 

When the American continent was hewn out 
some of the chips fell into the Atlantic Ocean. 
After floating around for a while they finally set- 
tled down just east of the Gulf of Mexico, forming 
a group of islands known as the West Indies. The 
two largest and most important of these, Cuba and 
Porto Rico, were for a long period held by Spain 
as suitable objects on which to spend the large 
sums of money she did not have to spare. Spain's 
colonial experience demonstrated the importance 
of every nation holding distant and unfriendly 
possessions. It is the best excuse in the world for 
being poor. 

The relations between the government and the 
inhabitants of the two islands mentioned were 
strained for many generations. At last they be- 
came openly and bitterly hostile. The Cubans de- 
termined in the latter part of the nineteenth cen- 

117 



ii8 Moore's History of the States 

tury to declare their Independence. This, as might 
have been expected, hurt the feehngs of the proud 
Spaniards, who felt constrained to chastise their 
wayward subjects. The Insurgents kept up an 
Intermittent warfare for a number of years, mak- 
ing It necessary for the Spanish Governm.ent to 
maintain an army on the Island continuously. 
Uncle Sam had for some time been watching the 
scrap, hoping all the while something might hap- 
pen to give him an excuse to take a hand. Finally 
It happened. 

The Americans kept intimating that Spain was 
not giving Cuba a square deal, and the Spaniards 
in turn told us It was none of our business. The 
statement was, as a matter of fact, correct, but the 
language in which It was expressed was not that of 
a trained diplomat. In reply to a scornful decla- 
ration of that kind, even though it be true. It was 
entirely natural for a young and ambitious gov- 
ernment like ours to say, "Well, we'll make It our 
business." And that is just what was said. 

The conduct of the two parties toward each 
other became more and more unbrotherly, a con- 
dition due In a large measure to the irritating 
activity of certain American newspaper represent- 
atives, who were paid to uncover sensations, and 
were doing their best to earn their wages. Some 
of the latter, as well as a few other enterprising 
Americans, who were on the island of Cuba for 
speculative purposes, persisted In getting into 
trouble with the Spanish authorities. Under the 
pretense of affording protection to these news- 



The Spanish War 1 1 9 

mongers and adventurers, a second-class Ameri- 
can battleship — the Maine — was kept in the south- 
ern waters, making headquarters at Key West and 
flirting from time to time with the Cuban shore. 

On the 25th of J anuary, 1898, the Maine, under 
command of Captain Sigsbee, sailed into the har- 
bor at Havana, dropped anchor, and settled her- 
self comfortably in the basin, as if she meant to 
spend the day. It was no place for a self-respect- 
ing American boat, but there she was, and there 
she stayed, and there she is yet. The principal 
difference is that instead of her being in the harbor, 
a part of the harbor is now in her. The visit of the 
Maine, while it was proclaimed a friendly mission, 
was fully understood to be a baring of Uncle 
Sam's strong arm for the sole purpose of display- 
ing his muscle. 

On the morning of P'ebruary 15th an explosion 
occurred which completely destroyed the vessel 
and the greater part of her crew. Captain Sigs- 
bee escaped and forthwith dispatched the news to 
Washington, concluding his message as follows: 
"Public opinion should be suspended." The con- 
clusion of the American people was that the Span- 
iards should be suspended. 

Whether the Maine was destroyed by the enemy 
or committed suicide, whether she was blown up 
or blown down, whether her ribs were caved in or 
caved out, made no difference. The explosion 
spelled W^ar in great big, red letters. It had to 
come, and was not long about it. 

The usual preliminary exchange of hypocritical 



120 Moore's History of the States 

communications was conducted in the most ap- 
proved diplomatic style, preparations meanwhile 
being made for the encounter. As a matter of fact 
the army and navy of the United States were in 
no condition to fight anything, but fortunately they 
did not have anything to fight. Spain could not 
have whipped a cow-pen full of mullein stalks. 
General Incompetency killed more men than all 
the other officers on both sides combined. 

The first real engagement was the bombard- 
ment of Matanzas by a portion of the American 
fleet commanded by Admiral Sampson, the result 
of which, so far as reported, was the untimely de- 
cease of a Spanish mule which happened to be 
loitering round the fortifications. The advantage 
in this fight was all with the fleet, which was able 
to discharge its guns with reasonable accuracy 
without coming in range of the heels of the mule. 
The latter was prevented from advancing to a 
more favorable position on account of his construc- 
tion. While equipped with a deadly rapid fire 
battery, when properly located on land, the mule is 
not a sea-going engine of destruction, and there- 
fore is not adapted to marine service. 

The circumstances of this engagement recall a 
contest recorded in ancient history, a contest in 
which a kinsman of the American Admiral and an 
ancestor of the Spanish mule fought as allies 
against a common enemy; on which occasion the 
prowess in battle of the unpretentious animal was 
fully attested. Needless to say this reference is 
to the slaughter of the Philistines by another Sam- 



The Spanish JVar 1 2 1 

son, who was materially aided in his work of anni- 
hilation by the timely assistance of the jaw bone 
of an ass. The loss of life in that assault was 
appalling. 

The next important event of the Spanish warwas 
the battle of Manila Bay. Among the many en- 
cumbrances which burdened the Spanish nation 
was the ownership of a job-lot of Islands in the 
Pacific Ocean, called the Philippines. This group 
consists of a countless number of fragmentary 
pieces of land of greater or less dimensions — most 
of them less — concerning which very little was 
known by the American people prior to the Spanish 
controversy. After we heard of the capture of 
these Islands we got out our geographies and 
looked some of them up. About all we were able 
to find out about them was that they are closer to 
Japan than they are to us. Spain discovered the 
Philippines as long ago as 1521, though it Is gen- 
erally believed they were there for a great many 
years before they were discovered. 

The principal island of the group is Luzon, upon 
the western coast of which is situated the city of 
Manila. This port has long maintained fortifi- 
cations sufficient to afford ample protection In 
times of peace, but of little value in the event of an 
attack by a hostile fleet. When the war broke out 
between Spain and the United States a so-called 
Spanish fleet was cruising around Luzon, not per- 
mitting Itself, however, to get out of swimming 
distance from the shore, because the boats were so 



122 Moore's History of the States 

rotten and leaky it was feared they might go to 
the bottom at any moment. 

Admiral Montojo, who was in command of this 
floating junk, brought it into Manila Bay every 
night to prevent its being kidnapped by some pass- 
ing schooner. This daily return to headquarters 
was also made necessary by the fact that the fleet 
was not strong enough to carry a full day's rations 
for the crew, so they were compelled to come back 
to Manila for their meals. The only serviceable 
guns they had were mounted on Monte's flagship, 
the Reina Crisiina. 1 hese weapons had been pro- 
cured from old man Noah when he dismantled the 
ark and sold the furnishings at auction. 

Now it so happened that Commodore George 
Dewey had taken a few American boats to Hong- 
kong to give them exercise, and was there when 
the trouble began. On April 24th, 1898, he re- 
ceived the following dispatch from the Navy De- 
partment at Washington: "Go to Philippines and 
catch Spanish fleet at once. Carry it out on the 
land and tie it up. Be careful you don't get your 
feet wet." He proceeded without delay to execute 
the order, reaching Manila Bay April 30th. That 
night he found the gate open and sailed right into 
the Bay, where he waited until daylight to make the 
attack. Next morning. May ist, an early break- 
fast was served. Dewey folded his napkin, then 
smoked a cigar while he glanced over the morning 
paper. That done, he turned to Captain Gridley. 

"Cap, are the dishes washed?" 

"They is," replied Gridley. 



llie Spanish War 1 23 

"Any of the guns loaded?" inquired Dewey, 

'Some of 'em is," came the reply. 

"Then get busy," ordered the Admiral, and the 
battle was on. 

Two or three shots aimed at the Spanish flag- 
ship took effect and put her out of business. The 
other boats were capsized by the commotion in the 
water, and sank to the bottom. This was sorely 
disappointing to the American gunners, who were 
eager for the target practice the battle was ex- 
pected to afford. Nothing remained for Dewey to 
do but take possession of the islands and keep them 
together till some one could be sent from Wash- 
ington to look after them. 

While Dewey was accomplishing his task in the 
Pacific, a work rendered less difficult because he 
was too far away to be handicapped by orders 
from the parlor experts who sat in Washington, 
preparations were going on to effect the main ob- 
ject of the struggle, namely, the occupation of 
Cuba and the subjugation of the Spanish army 
operating on that island. Cuba was expected, of 
course, to be the storm center; the main fighting 
strength of the Spanish navy would surely assem- 
ble in the Cuban waters, where their ships would 
be challenged by the American fleet. The latter 
was separated into two general divisions; Admiral 
Sampson taking personal charge of one, the other 
being commanded by Commodore Schley. 

Pending the arrival of the visiting boats from 
Spain the two wings of the reception committee be- 
fore mentioned undertook to maintain a blockade 



124 Moore's History of the States 

of the entire Cuban coast, which was moderately 
effective for the very good reason that there were 
no vessels in the Cuban ports to pass out and few 
outside that cared to pass in. That the blockading 
line was not absolutely impenetrable seems to be 
established by the fact that Admiral Cervera con- 
ducted his entire fleet into the port of Santiago de 
Cuba, and remained there for ten days before his 
presence came to the knowledge of Sampson's 
Doorkeepers. 

When finally the officers of the blockading fleet 
learned through the weekly papers that their friend 
Cervera was quietly sojourning in their midst 
frequent conferences were held for the purpose of 
determining what might be done, if anything, to 
prolong his visit. After much discussion pro and 
con — mostly con — without any conclusion being 
reached, some one suggested that inasmuch as the 
channel at the entrance of the harbor was extreme- 
ly narrow, it would not be a difficult task to close it 
up altogether. That idea met with general ap- 
proval, and it remained only to devise the ways 
and means to put it into eftect. At length it was 
agreed that a big collier, the Merrimac, which had 
been serving the fleet, should be steered into the 
channel and sunk. 

This daring undertaking was committed to the 
charge of Lieutenant Richmond P. Hobson, a 
young and ambitious naval constructor, and six 
candidates for positions in the Hall of Fame were 
selected from the many volunteers to assist him 
in the project. Hobson and his men conducted the 



The Spanish War 125 

Merrimac into what they believed to be the proper 
position, then, after throwing out the anchors, 
they crawled underneath the v^essel, bored holes in 
her bottom and let her sink. After piling some 
stones on the boat to hold her down, they waded 
ashore and sent a messenger with a note to the 
commander of the Spanish fort, advising him of 
their desire to be taken prisoners of war, for with- 
out this the symmetry of the plan would have been 
destroyed. 

The heroic conduct of the handsome Lieutenant 
made him a popular idol after his release from 
captivity, and added greatly to his value as a 
drawing card. For months he traveled over the 
country addressing bridge-whist clubs and other 
patriotic bodies; during which time he was em- 
braced and kissed by more old maids than had 
ever before honored any one man with similar 
labial benedictions. He was afterward induced to 
give up this form of dissipation and devote him- 
self to the less arduous and comparatively respec- 
table duties of a Congressman. 

What the real object was in closing up the chan- 
nel and bottling up the Spanish fleet has never been 
definitely explained. At first it was supposed the 
plan was to shut oft the flow of water through the 
narrow opening, then have the sailors bale out the 
water already in the harbor, thus leaving the ships 
on dry land, and absolutely helpless; a novel 
scheme, which, had it been carried out, would have 
made Its originators famous. 

By some It was said Commodore Schley favored 



126 Moore's History of the States 

the plan, thinking the obstructing of the channel 
would afford a splendid excuse for not going into 
the harbor in pursuit of Cervera, a la Dewey; and, 
moreover, the safety of the American vessels, their 
officers and crews would be greatly enhanced by the 
close confinement of the enemy. It had been no- 
ticed that Cervera's untrammeled presence had 
brought on a number of well-defined cases of in- 
somnia, but after the bottling was done everybody 
slept better and their appetites became normal. 

Admiral Sampson acquiesced readily; for, as he 
explained, he had a previous engagement to take 
tea with General Shafter, and was anxious that no 
disturbance should occur to prevent his keeping the 
appointment. Shafter's five o'clock teas were at 
that time looked upon as the most exclusive social 
functions of the season. 

At length Cervera grew tired of the scant con- 
sideration that was being shown him. He felt 
that his rank entitled him to better treatment, 
for he was as rank as Sampson and ranker than 
Schley. So he determined to take steps to attract 
their attention. With that end In view he quit 
the harbor, in which he had rested for forty-five 
days, and on Sunday morning, July 3rd, put boldly 
out into the high sea. 

As soon as the Americans had recovered from 
the surprise occasioned by the sudden and unan- 
nounced presence of the distinguished foreigners — 
for the Spanish Admiral had neglected to advise 
his hosts of the time and manner of his intended 
departure — they began firing a general salute. 



The Spanish War 127 

Their guns did not speak the Castillan language, it 
is true, but they had no difficulty in making them- 
selves understood, and the back talk did not last 
long. History fails to record another naval en- 
gagement out of which the commanders of the vic- 
torious fleet got so little credit, so little glory. 
Sampson was not there till the fight was practically 
over, and some contend that Schley remained only 
because he had no plausible excuse to get away. 
The former had taken the fastest vessel of the fleet 
and gone to see his little play-mate, Shafter. If 
Sampson won the battle, it was by absent treat- 
ment, a thing until then never heard of in naval 
warfare. If such was the case, the demonstration 
ought to revolutionize the methods of conflict, for 
it is infinitely safer to conduct a fight from a dis- 
tance. What is the use of exposing one's self to 
the dangers of shot and shell when the same re- 
sults may be had from a position of security? 
Stonewall Jackson might have been living yet if he 
had directed his forces from some secluded spot, 
twenty miles from the scene of battle. Sampson 
returned just in time to report the victory won by 
the fleet under "my command." 

The expression is sometimes used that one can- 
not turn round without somebody finding fault. 
That is just what happened to Schley. He turned 
round just as the fight began, and some people are 
criticising him for it yet. When the Spanish ships 
came out of the harbor they turned to the west, 
hugging the shore. Schley's flagship, the Brook- 
lyn, was headed east. Now, as everybody knows. 



128 Moore's History of the States 

it is a difficult matter to back-pedal a battleship, 
and it is harder still to steer a boat in any particu- 
lar direction when it is going the other way. Be- 
sides it is a dangerous practice, for in such a ma- 
noeuvre the vessel is almost sure to meet itself in 
deadly collision. 

Schley evidently thought the best way to go 
west was to face in that direction before starting, 
which made it necessary to turn round. He ex- 
plains in his official report that his object in turn- 
ing round was to enable the ship to swap ends; a 
most plausible theory. That position might have 
been attained by causing the boat to turn turtle; 
but, while such a movement would have righted its 
direction, it would have left the vessel upside down, 
a most undignified position for a flagship to as- 
sume. Furthermore, the efficiency of the guns 
would have been impaired, as it would have been 
necessary to fire them from beneath the water. 

Admitting the necessity for a turn of some kind, 
the question seems to narrow itself down to a de- 
cision between the shoreward or the seaward turn. 
Schley did not have much time to read up on the 
relative merits of the different directions in which 
he might swing his partner. He selected the out- 
curve, and that is all there is to it. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE army's part IN THE WAR 

The American navy was, as we have seen, In 
poor shape for service when the joint discussion 
arose with Spain; but, bad as It was, the condition 
of the army was worse. Our success, it must be 
admitted, was due not so much to our own strength 
as to the incredible weakness and Incompetency of 
our antagonist. 

While the Spanish ships were being punctured 
and disfigured, so-called preparations were going 
forward to land an armed force on the Islands of 
Cuba and Porto Rico. Russell A. Alger, of Michi- 
gan, was Secretary of War. His military train- 
ing had been acquired in the Federal Congress, 
Avhere he had spent a number of years fighting to 
retain the protective tariff on pulp and paper, in 
the production of which he was engaged. 

General Nelson A. Miles was nominally at the 
head of the army, but as he had proved himself 
to be a capable soldier in former disturbances he 
had thereby disqualified himself for activ'e partici- 
pation In the war with Spain. He was therefore 
not encouraged to lend any material assistance. 

A Board of Strategy and Interference was cre- 

129 



130 Moore's History of the States 

ated, whose business It was to run the war from 
the power-house at Washington by long-distance 
brain-and-courage transmission. Every move was 
to be made in accordance with its direction, very 
much as a game of chess is sometimes played by 
cable. The members of such boards are usually 
selected from among the men of military genius 
who on account of some peculiar organic trouble 
are forbidden by their family physicians to fre- 
quent localities where there is danger of inhaling 
combusted powder. 

By direction of the Washington authorities the 
army was mobilized at Mobile and tampered with 
at Tampa. It consisted of a few regulars and a 
large number of irregulars, the latter officered prin- 
cipally by the sons of certain influential fathers 
who held political and social obligations against 
the appointing powers. This seemed to be a good 
opportunity to pay off these old accounts and 
square the books. The credits allowed were grad- 
ed according to the rank of the official positions 
disposed of. 

A number of camps were established at different 
places in the South, where the raw recruits were 
rounded up for rehearsal, and there they were 
drilled in military tactics and draw poker. The 
principal rendezvous was at Tampa, Florida, 
where General Shafter was in personal charge. 
In addition to being taught the difference between 
the right and left foot, these newly made soldiers 
were subjected to a course of discipline the pur- 
pose of which was to accustom them to all the 



The Army's Part in the War 131 

perils and privations of the battlefield. Knowing 
they were likely to be stricken with fever on the 
islands, the insanitary arrangements were so de- 
vised as to encourage the spread of the disease 
among the men, that they might get used to it. 
Besides, if they were going to die of the disease, 
it was better to have them die closer home, and 
thus save the additional cost of reshipping their 
bodies to the United States. 

Included in the curriculum of this camp school 
was periodical total abstinence from nourishment, 
which, the doctors advise, if indulged with suffi- 
cient frequency and duration, will render one im- 
mune from starvation. Fhe soldiers were likewise 
prepared for future dietary emergencies by train- 
ing their stomachs to admit and assimilate all kinds 
of unwholesome foods, the final test in that direc- 
tion being made by issuing canned beef of ancient 
vintage and unsavory reputation. Any one who 
was able to devour this incarcerated flesh of de- 
ceased quadrupeds and survive was looked upon as 
being able to eat with impunity and potatoes any- 
thing that might be encountered during the cam- 
paign, and was also entitled to a great reduction 
in the rate of his life insurance. Complaint was 
made to headquarters that some of the packers 
who had contracts with the government had failed 
to furnish certificates of the attending veterinaries 
setting forth the manner in which the cattle came 
to their death. However, the testimony of the 
meat itself left no reasonable doubt that it was 
thoroughly dead. 



132 Moore's History of the States 

The soldiers while held at I'ampa were so con- 
stantly drilled in fighting flies and disease that 
when finally sent to the front to meet the enemy 
they were in fact looked upon as veterans. The 
thoroughness of this preliminary work will be bet- 
ter understood when the pension rolls of the future 
make it plain that more deaths and disabling ail- 
ments resulted from camp life than from the cas- 
ualties of the field. 

There was so much delay in getting the force 
at I'ampa ready to embark that the Washington 
authorities became noticeably impatient. The sum- 
mer was advancing and a large part of the army, 
who were farmers, were obliged to return to their 
homes in time to gather their crops before freezing 
weather again set in. All this led Secretary Alger 
to transmit to General Shaffer the following mes- 
sage on June 7th: "The President directs you to 
sail at once with what force you have ready." 

General Shafter did not receive the message 
until he returned from fishing late in the evening. 
The next day he replied, saying: "The Quarter- 
master-General advises we have no force among 
our supplies. Can sail to-morrow if permitted to 
substitute Quaker Oats." 

Several days were then consumed by the Board 
in taking expert testimony concerning the relative 
merit of these two cereals. 

Finally the transports were loaded and the expe- 
dition set out on the 14th day of June. And a dis- 
astrous voyage it was; for while General Shafter's 
official report fixes the number leaving Tampa at 



The Army's Part in the W ar 133 

815 officers and 16,072 men, General Miles re- 
ported 803 officers and 14,935 men as landing; 
showing a loss in transit of 12 officers and 1,037 
men. Whether they were eaten by sharks or died 
of old age before reaching Cuba we have no means 
of ascertaining. 

Upon arrival at their destination, it was found 
the ambulances and medical stores taken along 
were grossly inadequate. This was explained as 
being due to the crowded condition of the trans- 
ports. Many supplies were left behind to make 
room for the heavy blankets and overcoats car- 
ried by the regulars, who had spent the previous 
winter in Dakota and Montana. These it was 
thought would be invaluable in keeping out the 
heat which prevails in the tropics in the month of 
June. The volunteers were also provided with 
water-bottles to prevent cold feet. 

The transports completed their journey on June 
20th, when they were welcomed by Admiral Samp- 
son and the blockading fleet. At that time the 
blockade must have been unusually effective, for it 
required three days to get the troops ashore. On 
the afternoon of the 20th they were kept waiting 
off shore while the Admiral and the Major-Gen- 
eral paid a formal visit to General Garcia, who 
was in command of the insurgent forces. The next 
day was consumed by Shafter in giving landing or- 
ders. The debarkation began on the 22d and con- 
tinued for twenty-four hours. If a storm had vis- 
ited that locality pending the deliberate formali- 
ties, the men on the antiquated and overloaded 



134 Moore's History of the States 

boats would have been assigned to the command 
of Major McGinty, at the bottom of the sea. For- 
tunately, too, no resistance was offered to the land- 
ing, else they might have been drifting yet. 

A part of the force landed was the cavalry di- 
vision under the command of Major-General 
Wheeler. The First Volunteer Cavalry of the 
Second Brigade was chaperoned by Colonel Doc- 
tor Wood, who up to that time had never slain 
anybody in battle, but had accomplished the same 
purpose In the practice of medicine. 

Colonel Theodore Roosevelt had taken it upon 
himself to organize what were known as the Rough 
Riders. He advertised for the roughest men that 
could be found, and taught such of them as had 
never seen a horse the use of the animal as a means 
of locomotion. It was found, however, that the 
time devoted to this training was wasted, it being 
finally determined that on account of the character 
of the country in which most of their outing would 
be spent, the horses should be left behind, except 
such as were required for the personal comfort 
and display of the officers. Thus we had presented 
the unique spectacle of a regiment of cavalry 
mounted on their own feet. 

The plan of the campaign as outlined by General 
Shafter, after frequent conferences with Wash- 
ington and other foreign sea-ports, called for 
throwing forward the troops for the investment of 
Santiago. This involved the capture of the garri- 
sons of Caney and San Juan, for at these places 
Spanish soldiers were quartered, some of whom 



The Army's Part in the JVar 135 

were reported to have guns In their possession — 
very dangerous play-things when carelessly han- 
dled. 

The chief difficulty General Shatter had was to 
restrain Joe Wheeler from giving offense to the 
Spaniards, thereby enhancing the danger of some- 
one getting hurt. The former had accumulated 
a large surplus of flesh, on account of which he 
found it difficult to develop a speed that would 
insure an expeditious and safe retreat in case of 
serious trouble. Therefore, like a prudent man, 
he did not propose to put himself in a position 
where a precipitate rearward movement might ap- 
pear to be the better part of valor. Wheeler, on 
the other hand, was an impetuous youth, who spent 
very little time figuring on retreats. So Joe was 
leashed, and just as a fleet of battleships must ad- 
just its movement to the speed capacity of the slow- 
est vessel, so the entire army had to accommodate 
itself to Shafter's gait. 

While ascending an abrupt slope at a point called 
Las Guasimas, on the road from Siboney to San- 
tiago, the Rough Riders, whose advance guard was 
trailing some distance in the rear, were surprised 
by the sudden attack of some unfriendly enemies. 
The head of the column doubled back with such 
amazing swiftness that those following had little 
opportunity to get out of the path of their return- 
ing companions, and as a result the regiment be- 
came decidedly scrambled and many were hurt In 
the melee and other vital places. 

This Incident might have proved disastrous but 



136 Moore's History of the States 

for the timely assistance of the colored troops of 
the Tenth Cavalry, who gave not an inch. They 
were so badly scared they could not run, and the 
road was obstructed to such an extent by the par- 
alyzed bodies of the Darktown soldiers that the 
retreat of the Rough Riders was effectually 
blocked. 

In recognition of this timely aid, when Colonel 
Roosevelt became President some years later he 
excused an entire negro battalion from further ex- 
posure to danger in the service, after they had 
fought with splendid courage in the battle of 
Brownsville. 

When the Rough Riders had been brought to a 
halt Colonel Roosevelt galloped to the front, rid- 
ing his favorite horse, Hobby, and composed the 
disquieted troops by delivering a vigorous talk on 
the advantages of a strenuous life and the necessity 
for taking no reactionary step. In conclusion he 
said : 

"Let us be men, and show the world what true 
courage is. Don't be mollycoddles like the rest 
of the army. Never turn your face from the foe. 
If you must retreat, don't turn round, but back 
away from danger; then, if you are shot, you will 
not be shot in the back, and the bullet hole will 
leave no evidence that you were not going for- 
ward. Now, my fellow Rough Riders, go boldly 
on and meet the enemy! And that I may be in a 
position to check any future disposition you may 
have to turn back, I shall hereafter follow In your 
rear." 



The Army's Part in the War 137 

The effect of these inspiring words was magical. 
The reassured troops put spurs to themselves and 
rushed to the top of tlie hill ; but the two men who 
had fired upon them, and brought on their confu- 
sion, had disappeared, and had left no informa- 
tion concerning their itinerary. It was impossible, 
therefore, to know what direction could be taken 
without danger of again running across them. 

On July ist Generals Chaffee and Lawton led 
their men against Caney. Here the Spaniards put 
up the best fight they made during the entire war, 
but they were overpowered and the garrison was 
captured. This source of danger eliminated, it 
was possible to lead the Rough Riders further on 
without serious danger of fatality. 

The capture of Caney was followed by the 
storming of San Juan heights. The First and 
NinthCavalry and the Rough Riders directed their 
efforts to the seizing and holding of Kettle Plill, 
which was unoccupied, while the American center 
and left was moving against the main Spanish 
division. The wisdom of selecting Kettle Hill as 
an object of attack instead of San Juan was later 
demonstrated by the official reports showing a tre- 
mendous mortality among the men v/ho were rash 
enough to assault the Spaniards on the latter eleva- 
tion, while the death rate on the adjacent mound 
was nominal. 

When the troops had proceeded about half the 
distance up Kettle Hill the command was given to 
halt. A detachment was then ordered to construct 
three or four panels of rail fence seventeen feet 



138 Moore's History of the States 

high at a point on the hill-side, well protected from 
any stray missiles from the guns of the men who 
were fighting on San Juan, but at the same time in 
plain view of the American troops. This done, 
Colonel Roosevelt ordered the press representa- 
tives to train their cameras on the spot and snap 
at the moment he should dash forward on his 
charger and clear the improvised hurdle. 

The delay occasioned by this mountain-side exhi- 
bition prevented their reaching the top of the hill 
in time to see the best part of the fight; but some 
splendid pictures were obtained for insertion m 
the History of the Rough Riders and The Look- 
out. 

To account for the apparent tardiness in pushing 
the American army on to Santiago it must be re- 
membered that every step taken in that direction 
carried the troops just that much farther away 
from their commander, rendering it all the more 
difficult to keep up communication. Scouting par- 
ties reported there were no large trees at or near 
Santiago under which a hammock might be swung, 
so it was therefore out of the question for General 
Shafter to go to the front. Orders from Washing- 
ton were relayed through him to the army, and 
reports from the field conveyed back in the same 
manner. It is not surprising, therefore, that when 
the soldiers finally received orders to do any par- 
ticular thing it was generally too late to do it. 

It must not be forgotten either that the Spanish 
soldiers were scarce in that locality, which made it 
much more difficult to find them. 



The Army's Part in the JVar 139 

It was on the march along the San Juan River 
that the First Battalion of the Seventy-first New 
York made a name for itself in the history of our 
country. The report of the commander was that 
when subjected to a galling fire this division "re- 
coiled in disorder." General Kent's staff came 
forward and formed a cordon behind the panic- 
stricken men, who were commanded to lie down in 
the thicket till they could recover their self-posses- 
sion. Here they displayed marvelous courage. 
Lying in the bushes, as they were, holding on to the 
grass, the regiments that followed were obliged to 
pass over their prostrate forms in order to ad- 
vance. It is a rare thing that soldiers are thus ex- 
posed to the danger of being stepped on before 
they are dead. 

After the destruction of the Spanish boats and 
the capitulation of San Juan, the efforts of both the 
American army and navy were directed against the 
city of Santiago. Concerning the order in which 
this Spanish stronghold should be entered by the 
two forces Sampson and Shafter indulged a pro- 
tracted exchange of official courtesies, each eager 
to yield the honor of precedence to the other. It 
was a regular Alphonse-Gaston affair. 

"You go in first, my dear General," entreated 
Sampson. 

"Nay, nay. Thou must precede, my brave Ad- 
miral," replied Shafter. 

"But," said Sampson, "if the army enters the 
city from the rear and takes possession of the forts, 
it will then be an easy task for the fleet to steam 



140 Moore's History of the States 

into the harbor in an orderly procession, such as 
comports with its dignity and importance, and 
there will be no danger of having the paint 
scratched on our beautiful boats by the careless 
firing of the guns." 

"You forget," replied Shafter, "that if these 
hostile guns are first silenced by the fleet it will 
then be possible for the army to make a much more 
orderly and impressive march through the streets. 
Besides, my dimensions make it a much easier mat- 
ter to hit me than it is to land a bullet in your body. 
It would therefore not be at all prudent for me to 
approach the fortifications so long as they are oc- 
cupied by the enemy. So lose no time, pray, in 
making the assault." 

This conversation was kept up for some time 
without any appreciable result. Finally each ap- 
pealed to Washington that instructions might be 
given the other to capture the city and render it 
incapable of doing harm. In Washington the joint 
discussion was taken up and carried on by the 
Secretaries of War and of the Navy, Secretary 
Alger sharing the view of Shafter, and Secretary 
Long supporting the opinion of Sampson. 

Adjutant-General Corbin about that time sent a 
private telegram to Shafter, saying: "If the navy 
will not undertake to break through, take a trans- 
port, cover the pilot house and most exposed points 
with baled hay, and call for volunteers from the 
army to run into the harbor, thus making a way for 
the navy." 

In this dispatch there seems to lurk a thinly 



The Army's Part in the War 141 

veiled intimation tliat in tlie opinion of the sender 
the navy was made up of the kind of animals that 
could be toled along by a bundle of hay. No 
wonder the two branches of Uncle Sam's fighting 
force worked in such unfailing harmony when 
these cordial relations existed! 

Pending the negotiations between the leaders of 
the Army and of the Navy, the Spanish soldiers 
in Santiago were unpardonably neglected. They 
grew tired of this inattention and, having nothing 
to occupy their time, became intensely homesick. 

General Toral, who commanded the forces of 
the beleaguered city, arranged an interview with 
General Shafter, to whom he said, "If you persist 
in your determination not to give us a fight, there 
is nothing left for us to do but surrender. We 
cannot remain here indefinitely without some di- 
version." 

"Nothing doing," replied Shafter. "Go and 
lick somebody, and get a reputation, then come to 
me and I will talk fight with you. Any way, it's 
too hot to fight now. I intend to wait it out on 
this line if it takes all summer." 

Toral returned to his headquarters sorely dis- 
appointed. A council was called and it was de- 
cided to return to Spain, provided the United States 
would agree to pay the freight. These terms were 
accepted and the city was promptly turned over to 
the Americans. Thus it appears that Toral out- 
generaled his adversaries, for by surrendering he 
compelled them to take possession of Santiago, 



142 Moore's History of the States 

which for weeks they had consistently declined 
to do. 

Not to be outdone, Admiral Sampson on the 
next day sent the following dispatch to the Secre- 
tary of the Navy: 

"The fleet under my command has just captured 
a school of about 450,000 Spanish mackerel." 

The destruction of the Spanish fleet and the ca- 
pitulation of Santiago practically ended the war. 
Porto Rico was shortly thereafter occupied by the 
American soldiers, and then Spain threw up the 
sponge. 

A joint peace commission met in Paris on the 
first day of October to arrange terms of settlement. 
The principal question was the disposition to be 
made of the Philippine Islands, in relation to which 
the American government found itself in an awk- 
ward situation. Like the man who was clinging to 
the tail of an infuriated bear, we could not very 
well hold on and did not dare let go. 

Spain at length agreed to sell the islands, with 
all the appurtenances thereunto belonging, to the 
United States for the gross sum of $20,000,000. 
We say "gross sum" because it was grossly exces- 
sive. This country had no earthly use for these 
far-off possessions, but it looked like too good a 
bargain to turn down. It was estimated there 
were at that time at least 1 2,000,000 natives roam- 
ing over the islands, all of whom were included in 
the transaction. While we had declared against 
slavery in a most emphatic manner, here was a 
bunch of able-bodied negroes offered at the nom- 



The Army's Part in the IFar 143 

inal price of $1.66 apiece. It was an opportunity 
to lay in a supply of dusky citizens at a per capita 
cost less than the prevailing price of a hound pup. 
To be sure they were not broken for service, nor 
did the vendors agree to deliver them. They 
merely sold them in the field, and it was our busi- 
ness to round them up. 

When the agreement formulated by the commis- 
sioners came up for ratification in the American 
Congress the patriotic statesmen who favored it 
argued that the Philippines were invaluable to us 
as a base of supplies. When asked what need we 
had for such a base in that remote corner of the 
globe, we were told it must be maintained for the 
use and benefit of the American fleet stationed in 
and around the Philippine ports. Then, inquiry be- 
ing made as to the purpose of keeping a fleet in 
those waters, we were informed that the object 
was to protect our base of supplies. A simple and 
logical statement when once understood; the won- 
der is we had not thought of it before, yet it had 
never occurred to us till pointed out by our ever- 
wise and far-seeing statesmen. 

The conclusion of peace with Spain did not, how- 
ever, end our use for an active military force in the 
Philippines. Up to that time we had been fighting 
for the natives; since then we have been fighting 
against them. It is always the case when an out- 
sider undertakes to settle a family row. 

From the adoption of the treaty of peace until 
the close of the first term of President McKinley, 
the attention and resources of the administration 



144 Moore's History of the States 

were devoted principally to looking after our new- 
ly acquired insular charges, from the burdensome 
care of which we had generously relieved poor old 
Spain. 

Uncle Sam very soon discovered that his adopt- 
ed children were not only far from self-sustaining, 
but that they were totally lacking in gratitude and 
good manners. They were not only impecunious, 
but impudent as well. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE REIGN OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

When the time came round for the election in 
1900 no one was given serious consideration for 
the Presidency by the Republican party except the 
incumbent, William McKinley. It was under his 
rule that the war had been fought with Spain, and 
won, in spite of our unparalleled efforts to lose it. 
McKinley was therefore the logical candidate, 
and it remained only for the convention to ratify 
the party selection. 

There was some difficulty, however, in choosing 
his running mate. The Vice-Presidency had begun 
to be looked upon as a political grave yard, to the 
inmates of which no hope of a resurrection was 
held out. The duties of the office were to preside 
over the tedious and stupefying deliberations of 
the Senate and to attend formal receptions as 
the posing representative of the administration for 
a period of four years, then pass into oblivion. 
The Vice-President was expected to be dignified 
and inanimate, having neither sufficient authority 
to command respect nor enough freedom of action 
to make himself easy and companionable. 

A certain ambitious young man named Theo- 

145 



146 Moore's History of the States 

dore Roosevelt was making himself troublesome 
to the party organization in the State of New 
York. He had shown little respect for precedent, 
and less for his political seniors. There was no 
opinion for which he had high regard save his 
own, and no man for whom he entertained great 
admiration but himself. It is easy to understand 
that such a disposition coupled with aggressive 
ability was calculated to cause uneasiness among 
the political bosses, whose authority had seldom 
been challenged. 

Colonel Roosevelt's brilliant record in the Span- 
ish war, of which the people had learned through 
his own writings and speeches, made him a popular 
idol upon his return to his own State. 

It must not be forgotten that the public mind 
was at that time completely dominated by the mili- 
tary spirit. The bands were playing martial airs 
and all our spare change was invested in flags and 
patriotic bunting. More people were seeing stars 
and wearing stripes than ever before in our history. 
A slouch rough-rider hat on a lamp post was paid 
more homage than a number seven-and-a-half silk 
tile full of brains. 

In such a state of military dementia what show 
could a man without epaulets and brass buttons 
possibly have? Theodore Roosevelt was quick to 
seize the opportunity, and lost no time in hitching 
his political sled to the wagon of public sentiment, 
whereby, with little effort on his own part, he was 
hauled into the Governor's mansion at Albany. 
While filling that office he gave litde heed to the 



The Reign of Theodore Roosevelt 147 

operation of any political machine but his own, 
which of course was disquieting to the professional 
leaders, who began to take counsel together how 
they might get rid of this disturbing factor. 

Senator 1 homas C. Piatt, who was then subsist- 
ing politically upon the memory of his past great- 
ness, was looked upon as the head of his party; to 
him, therefore, fell the task of flagging Roosevelt's 
political train and switching it onto a siding. He 
could think of no spur upon which it could be run 
with less chance of returning to the main line than 
that of the Vice-Presidency. Preparations were 
accordingly made to use that resting place. 

Roosevelt did not yield readily — he never 
does — but insisted till the very assembling of the 
nominating convention that he would not have the 
job. Meanwhile, Piatt was working the wires with 
his wonted cunning and causing the reluctant states- 
man to be overwhelmed with appeals. After Mc- 
Kinley had been named, it was made to appear to 
the Colonel that nothing but the magic of his name 
on the ticket could assure its success. Finally he 
was convinced that it would be a case of the tail 
wagging the dog, and to save the country he con- 
sented to run. 

Piatt shook hands with himself, laughed in both 
his sleeves, and went home overjoyed that he had 
at last put this noisy young man where he would 
never be heard from again. And all his associate 
bosses chanted a fervent "Amen!" 

On the Democratic side Bryan again nominated 
himself. He was by no means the unanimous 



148 Moore's History of the States 

choice of his party, but he had sufficient following 
to defeat any one who might be selected against 
his will, so his claims were not seriously contested. 
Pie wrote his own platform, this time leaving out 
some of the silver and introducing a novelty in the 
way of a paramount issue — but it didn't paramount 
to much. 

Anti-imperialism was his campaign cry; but what 
chance, pray, had such a platform in a jingo sea- 
son, two years after the close of a war of conquest ? 
How could the public be expected to second a mo- 
tion to give up the Philippines when it was well 
understood their retention would make it neces- 
sary to create many new offices, some one of which 
every man who voted the Republican ticket confi- 
dently expected to secure? 

The campaign was carried on with the usual 
amount of false prophecies and false promises, 
the usual amount of talk and fire-works, and ended 
with the usual result — the defeat of Bryan. 

The second term of President McKinley had not 
gone far when it came to a tragic end. For the 
third time in our history the Chief Executive of the 
nation was assassinated by the hand of an unre- 
strained lunatic. He was shot down while attend- 
ing an exposition at the city of Buffalo, from the 
effects of which assault he died some days later, 
after much patient suffering. 

When Roosevelt was sworn into office as Presi- 
dent he recognized the popularity of his predeces- 
sor and pledged himself to carry out his policies. 
And he did — he carried them out the back door of 



The Reign of Theodore Roosevelt 149 

the White House and left them there. What be- 
came of them no one knows; they have not been 
seen since that day. As everybody is aware, it was 
the beginning of a new era in which things were to 
be done differently. Precedents were no longer to 
be followed, but to be made. 

The affairs of state went along in a fairly nor- 
mal way until the term expired for which McKin- 
ley had been elected. The fact that he was occu- 
pying a position to which another had been called 
by the voice of the people appeared to have a re- 
straining effect on the President. He began, how- 
ever, to show signs of restlessness as the time ap- 
proached for another election. It was apparent 
he was eager to renew his right to rule by the direct 
authority of the voters, for then he could be inde- 
pendent of all inherited obligations and perfectly 
free to be himself. 

The campaign of 1904 was exciting and event- 
ful. Roosevelt had his party so well in hand there 
was never any doubt about his being made its can- 
didate, and a very activ^e candidate he was. 

The Democratic convention met in St. Louis. 
None of the delegates knew just what they wanted 
when they came together, and few of them knew, 
when it was all over, what they had done or why 
they had done it. There was no leading candidate 
in the field and no considerable number of the dele- 
gates were agreed upon any one thing. Free silver 
had failed to win, and imperialism had run second 
in a field of two, so there was nothing in the recent 
past to which the party might attach Itself with 



150 Moore's History of the States 

reasonable hope. The claim was that the party 
had been too long in control of the radical element, 
and there was a loud cry for a "safe and sane" 
platform and candidate. Nobody objected to that 
demand, for every one thought his own candidate 
and political creed the safest and sanest on the 
market. 

Chiefly because he had no political record of any 
kind, and no time would therefore be consumed in 
making explanations and apologies. Judge Alton 
B. Parker, of the State of New York, was finally 
selected to make the fight. It was in keeping, too, 
with the "sanity" theory, for the Judge had always 
been quiet and uncommunicative. He had not said 
many foolish things, for the very good reason that 
he had seldom spoken at all. A man may have 
absolutely no political knowledge, but, if he is wise 
enough to shut off the flow of his conversation, it is 
a diflicult matter to prove the barren state of his 
mind. 

About this time there began to be a good deal 
of talk about the man who was President being a 
man of "judicial temperament;" that is to say, a 
good President must look serious and decline to de- 
cide anything until he is compelled to do so. It 
very often happens that a case is disposed of by 
the learned court on the merest technicality; then 
in the written opinion it is stated, "There are two 
or three questions of the gravest importance to the 
public raised in the pleadings, but inasmuch as the 
determination of this particular controversy does 
not involve their adjudication, the court declines 



The Reign of Theodore Roosevelt 151 

to pass on them at this time." That is "judicial 
temperament." Never do to-day what you can put 
off till the next term of the court, is a favorite 
maxim of the bench. 

When at length the convention settled upon the 
nomination of Judge Parker he was not present, a 
situation which is very often favorable to the can- 
didate. He was, however, promptly advised by 
wire of the selection, and was at the same time 
enlightened concerning the platform upon which 
he was expected to run. To the utter amazement 
of the other candidates, Parker wired back that 
while he most heartily approved of the wisdom 
they had displayed in naming the candidate, he 
could not accept anything but a gold platform. 

At first there was a disposition to resent such 
arrogance, but after consultation it was determined 
the platform should be arranged to suit the new 
occupant. Some argued that it made no difference 
anyway what they put in it or left out, for, as Pri- 
vate John Allen would put it, a party platform, 
like the platform of a passenger coach, is made to 
get in on, not to stand on. Still others said, "Let 
him have any platform he wants. He will never 
have a chance to carry it out." 

The head of the ticket being thus provided, the 
convention began to cast about for material suit- 
able for the other end of it. It was then suggested 
it might be prudent to add some one who was in a 
position to give the ticket financial standing. Brad- 
street was accordingly consulted and the rating 
and past performance of all the political possibili- 
ties looked up. 



152 Moore's History of ihe States 

August Belmont was first considered, but the 
New York delegation protested that he could never 
carry that State. All the men in New York City 
who had to stand up on the subway trains, they de- 
clared, would vote against him, while the women 
who occupied the seats could not vote at all. 
Thomas F. Ryan was turned down because he was 
mixed up with the surface lines, and Colonel Jim 
Gufty, of Pennsylvania, was too close to Standard 
Oil. The only other Democrat who could then be 
thought of that had money was Senator Henry 
Gassaway Davis, of West Virginia. Some were 
opposed to him because, they alleged, he was the 
father-in-law of the Republican party, Stephen B. 
F^lkins having married into the family. That was 
a right serious charge, but it was argued, and 
justly, that a man should not be held responsible 
for the matrimonial inclinations of his children. 
So it was agreed this alliance with the hostile party 
should be overlooked, provided there was no other 
serious objection to be raised. 

Inquiry being made as to the political strength 
of the Senator, Colonel John T. McGraw, the 
national committeeman from his State, said he felt 
sure Davis would run well in the Roaring Creek 
district of Randolph County, where most of the 
voters were employed in the Senator's coal mines, 
and would have to support him or look for work 
elsewhere. 

Then they discussed his age. It looked like tak- 
ing a long chance to nominate a man who had al- 
ready celebrated his eighty-first birthday. But 
those who knew him best relieved the anxiety on 



The Reign of Theodore Roosevelt 153 

that score. Inasmuch, they said, as there was still 
some money in West Virginia which did not be- 
long to the Senator and his son-in-law, they knew 
very well he did not have the slightest intention 
of departing this life until it had all been annexed. 
Finally Tom Taggart, of Indiana, settled the whole 
matter. "What difference does it make," he asked, 
"how old he is, or what else he may be? He is 
not too old to sign his check, and that is what we 
are most interested in. Suppose he is not young 
enough to be Vice-President? He will never have 
to be. Get the money, and get it quick. I expect 
to be the national chairman and I shall have use 
tor It. 

The work of the convention was concluded on 
Sunday morning, and the Democratic banners 
thereafter unfurled bore the caricatures of Parker 
and Davis, a ticket which afforded a thoroughly 
respectable excuse for a few Democratic votes. 

Parker failed utterly to create any enthusiasm. 
That made little difference; but when Davis failed 
to create any revenue there was real suffering. The 
Senator has never had the reputation of paying 
more for a thing than it is worth. His attitude 
toward the campaign was entirely consistent and 
proved conclusively that his age had not in any wise 
impaired his commercial sagacity. We have been 
informed that he sent his check for twenty dollars 
to the campaign committee, besides paying some 
personal expenses out of his own pocket amounting 
to fourteen dollars and eighty cents, for all of 
which he was fully compensated by the free adver- 
tising given his new railroad. Meanwhile, Judge 



154 Moore's History of the States 

Parker repaired to his country home at a place in 
the State of New York called Esopus. There he 
remained during the campaign, spending most of 
his time swimming in the river trying to catch the 
floating vote, it was explained. Before the season 
was over some three or four hundred people, most- 
ly newspaper reporters, visited him. Others 
thought of doing so, but could not find his location 
on the map. 

Senator Davis was notified of his nomination at 
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in the pres- 
ence of a large crowd of women and children, and 
two special policemen. He then returned to his pa- 
latial home in the town of Elkins, where he re- 
ceived the congratulations of his neighbors in 
Randolph and adjoining counties, when they hap- 
pened to be attending court. A few of them also 
voted for him. 

The silence maintained by the Democratic Pres- 
idential nominee and the four-score years of his 
associate on the ticket led some one to observe dur- 
ing the campaign that the Democrats were asking 
the people to vote for a mystery from Esopus and 
a reminiscence from West Virginia. 

Meanwhile the candidate of the opposite party 
was not overlooking any tricks. He made few 
formal speeches, but never stopped talking. How- 
ever, he did not rely on his own line of conversa- 
tion to carry him through. That money talks is 
an old adage, and there is no time when its elo- 
quence is more convincing than in a political cam- 
paign. The candidate who permits himself to be 
drawn into a joint discussion with the real coin is 



The Reign of Theodore Roosevelt 155 

going to have trouble, sure as you are born. The 
President knew all that, and was naturally and 
properly anxious to have this persuasive speaker 
take the stump in his behalf. 

The invitation to lend a helping hand had gone 
out to the ends of the earth. Every mail was 
bringing in a few millions of dollars for the right- 
eous cause, and still there was room for more. It 
occurred to the President that a few heart-to-heart 
talks with certain solvent individuals, who might 
appreciate the friendship of an active four-years' 
administration, would possibly stimulate the desire 
to make voluntary donations. He accordingly 
had some correspondence with his practical friend, 
Mr, E. H. Harriman, who, it was known, had on 
the last pay-day received a few dollars from the 
railroad for which he was working, tiarriman 
also had some business acquaintances who had ac- 
counts with the savings banks, a part of which it 
was thought they might want to invest. Others of 
course were honored by invitations to interview 
the Chief on the same interesting topic. As it was 
later explained by the gentleman in Washington, he 
of course did not have the remotest idea that these 
contributions were coming from the wicked corpo- 
rations, or that they were being used for his own 
political advancement. He thought all the while 
the money was expended in the distribution of the 
literature of the American Tract Society, and to 
build homes for the survivors of the Deluge. It 
was no fault of his that the sacred fund was di- 
verted by Cortelyou and others into channels for 
which it was never intended. 



156 Moore's History of the States 

Needless to say, in playing the game of practical 
politics the practical methods of practical men pre- 
vailed over the policies of inactivity and antiquity. 
Roosevelt was overwhelmingly elected, Parker re- 
turned to the practice of law, from whence he came 
and for which he was so admirably adapted, and 
Davis went back to building railroads and coke 
ovens, his favorite pastime. 

The fact that he was no longer filling the place 
of some one else, but held the office of President of 
the United States by virtue of the votes which were 
cast for himself, had a very prompt and decided 
effect on the official attitude of Mr. Roosevelt. 
The dynamic energy of his second term made the 
strenuous effort of the first look like the calm and 
peaceful repose of an Egyptian mummy. All at 
once he seemed to realize the boundless scope of 
his jurisdiction, calling for an exercise of authority 
in every field of human activity, directing even to 
the minutest detail the public and private affairs 
of men. FVom that time till his retirement from 
office there was not an idle nor a dull moment in 
the entire play. 

Roosevelt was by no means lacking in personal 
force, but it must not be assumed that he made all 
the noise that was heard during his administration, 
nor that he was solely responsible for all that oc- 
curred. He did not write the Decalogue, as some 
have alleged, but simply popularized the Mosaic 
statutes by giving them his personal endorsement, 
after some amendments had been made to suit his 
views. The time was ripe for social and industrial 
upheavals; they were due and no hand could stay 



The Reign of Theodore Roosevelt 157 

their coming. Roosevelt's well-trained ear heard 
the subdued rumblings of the approaching eruption 
and his watchful eye caught the first cleft in the 
quaking mountain. He stood waiting with uplifted 
hand, and so accurately timed the blow that at the 
very moment when smoke and flames burst forth 
from the uncapped summit, he smote the crumbling 
mass with the rod of his official disapproval, then 
cried out to the astonished multitude, "Behold 
what I have done!" And many believed then, as 
some do still, that he had actually done it. 

At any rate it was a period of exceptional activ- 
ity — a sort of political equinox — while he remained 
in power. Some wrongs were righted and some 
rights were wronged, some of the guilty were pun- 
ished and some o) the innocent were made to suf- 
fer. The motto of the President was, "Tread 
lightly, but carry a big stick." He carried the big 
stick all right and wielded it with great freedom, 
ending the season with a batting average far above 
normal; but if his progress was made with gentle 
step, woe unto the people among whom he may 
ever walk with heavy and careless footfall! He 
was a perpetual advocate of the "Square deal," 
which he construed to mean that he should do all 
the dealing, and it frequently happened that more 
than one joker was found in the pack. Further on 
we shall see more of this unique figure in American 
history, whose activities have not only caused him 
to be intensely disliked by some, but have at the 
same time won for him the extravagant adm.iration 
of many besides himself. 



CHAPTER XX 

SOME PHASES AND INSTITUTIONS OF AMERICAN 

LIFE 

For the present we shall turn aside from the 
orderly march through succeeding years, for the 
purpose of considering some of the social and in- 
dustrial institutions of American life, and inciden- 
tally some of the people related thereto. 

There was a time when this country had a clearly 
defined aristocracy, in good standing and good 
working order, not in the political but in the social 
sense of the term. And why should it not always 
be so? All else being equal, good blood tells in a 
horse; is there any reason why it should not have 
even a more marked effect on a human being? It 
is rather significant that most persons who decry 
good breeding have never tried it. To be sure the 
final test of a horse's merit is the measure of his 
ability to perform. Nancy Hanks had no more 
pedigree than a wooden clothes horse, but she 
could trot, in spite of her poor start in life. Still, 
the man whose business it is to raise fast horses 
would not go to the car stables to stock his farm. 
Many men attain brilliant success who are born of 
aimless and undeserving parents, but that fact does 

158 



Phases and Institutions of American Life 159 

not repeal the law of heredity. Some who come 
of good families make failures, but that is no ar- 
gument against starting right. 

The reason that there is no longer a premium 
on aristocratic birth is that it has been so over- 
worked. It is a good thing in its place, but cannot 
be substituted for any and every other good thing, 
as some are always endeavoring to do. The world 
gets tired of the fellow who is everlastingly trot- 
ting out his triple-plated lineage as an excuse for his 
own utter worthlessness. One thing that kept the 
South poor for a long time was that so many of 
her able-bodied men spent the greater portion of 
their time hanging the portraits of their ancestors 
and telling the story of their departed greatness. 
It was not an unusual thing to find a man standing 
still, and looking back with ill-concealed pride upon 
the records made by his famous sires, having and 
pleading no excuse for occupying space on the earth 
except that he had a bright future behind him. 

Family trees are very ornamental things in our 
domestic front yards, but the fellows who loaf 
round under their shade when they ought to be 
planting corn and potatoes are liable to be short of 
rations when the snow falls. About the only fruit 
that can ever be gathered from their pretentious 
branches is an occasional lemon. An ancestral 
chart is a very interesting diagram, and a handy 
argument for a woman to use when trying to con- 
vince her husband that she married beneath her- 
self, but a poor thing to present at a lunch counter 
in exchange for a ham sandwich when one is hun- 



i6o Moore's History of the States 

gry. As collateral at the bank it Is not In the same 
class with Standard Oil certificates, though the lat- 
ter may be smeared with crude petroleum. 

Boasting is a habit with some Americans, and 
they never lose an opportunity to advertise what 
they think they are. Some are not at all concerned 
about the genuineness of their claim, if they can 
only run a successful bluff. That Is why patriotic 
and artlstocratic organizations are so popular. 
Take for instance the Daughters of the American 
Revolution. There are women who would pay ten 
dollars to wear the badge of that society, If they 
had to borrow the money from the hired girl, and 
let the grocer's bill go to protest. But what does it 
amount to ? There were men fighting in the Revo- 
lution who came over here to escape the gallows on 
the other side. After all, Mrs. Partington was 
not so far wrong when she applied for membership 
in the Daughters of the Revolution on the ground 
that her father used to run a merry-go-round. 

After a long and tedious campaign of aristo- 
cratic folly it was the most natural thing In the 
world for a reaction to set In, and It did. But the 
trouble about a reaction Is that, while It starts right, 
it never knows when to stop. That is just what 
happened In this case. 

The new standard of supremacy adopted by the 
American people was a commercial one. Public 
sentiment gradually drifted so far In that direction 
that finally the man who could produce the coin 
in sufficient quantity was looked upon as entitled 
to every mark of distinction, without regard to the 



Phases and Institutions of American Life i6i 

manner in which he procured it or how he proposed 
to spend it. It made no difference whether he had 
any ancestors. As a result most people overlooked 
everything else in the frantic effort to get money. 
They must have it, even if they had to marry it. 
Many engaged so eagerly in the pursuit of the dol- 
lar that they did not even have time to be neigh- 
borly. 

Just as the disposition to overcapitalize aristoc- 
racy had in a great measure been confined to the 
South, where alone it existed to any extent, so the 
new form of idolatry — the worship of the golden 
calf — found most of its adherents in the North. 
The fact that dignity and leisure were supposed to 
comport with aristocratic birth, while it was the 
perpetual hustler who gathered up the shekels, 
resulted in course of time in the establishment of 
a mechanical difference in the people of the two 
sections. Those of the North were high geared, 
while the Southern people were not set for speed. 

The life of the average Yankee is one of brutal 
hurry from the cradle to the grave. He never 
stops his mad rush till the human machine is con- 
sumed by the fires of its own excessive energy, then 
that which is left is carried with unseemly haste to 
its last resting place, for there is no room in the 
North for a dead one. It takes a horse with ex- 
ceptional speed to keep up with the funeral proces- 
sion. In New York the hearse is being equipped 
with electric motive power to shorten the journey 
to the tomb, and when the corpse passes througn 
the gateway into the silent city of the dead, even 



1 62 Moore's History of the States 

there a liveried guard is on duty calling out, "Step 
lively!" Under the present rules and regulations 
there is very little pleasure gotten out of a Yankee 
funeral. It is no place for an easy-going man to 
die. 

Down South it was different. Most persons in 
that locality were so well satisfied with the pres- 
ent life they evinced no special hurry to die. 
Sometimes the climate is uncomfortably warm, it 
is true, but who knows what the temperature will 
be in the next existence? So what is the use to 
hurry? Most Southerners went leisurely along 
their way, taking time to get acquainted with them- 
selves and their neighbors, their wives and their 
children. They were not impatient for time to go 
by and the quarterly dividend to roll round, for 
most of them had no dividend to roll round: so 
they yearned for even longer days and longer 
years, longer drinks and longer credit. 

Because the people of the South were pretty well 
satisfied with the universe as it was created, and 
were not eternally finding fault and trying to make 
it over, they were sometimes called lazy. In other 
localities the commercial spirit is so dominant that 
most people see little to admire in anything upon 
which there is not a fixed market value. If it were 
in their power they would gather up the radiance 
of the sun and the glitter of the stars and coin 
them into gold. The same spirit that is engaged in 
destroying the majestic beauty of Niagara, that it 
may be converted into a big power house, if unre- 
strained would plant our parks in onions and pump- 



Phases and Institutions of American Life 163 

kins, lease the Mammoth Cave for use as a sub- 
way, make wireless receiving stations of the Statue 
of Liberty and Bunker Hill, use the Washington 
Monument for a bill-board, and stretch the equa- 
tor in the back yard for a clothes-line. 

It used to be thought that this mercenary dispo- 
sition could never thrive in the warmer climate of 
the Southern States, and for a long while this 
seemed to be true; but with the extension of rail- 
way facilities and improvements in the methods of 
travel the people of the United States became very 
much mixed up. Interstate commerce and inter- 
state marriage brought the people of the two sec- 
tions into so much closer relation that their distin- 
guishing traits began to disappear, and each con- 
tracted the bad habits of the other. This was kept 
up until one became as bad as the other, if not 
worse. 

Time was when the South had the contract to 
furnish the country with most of her statesmen. 
While the men of the North, who had more brains 
than were required for family use, were busy get- 
ting money away from other people and watching 
that no one got it away from them, the intelligent 
Southerner, who had too much sense to engage in 
real hard work, was devoting a good portion of 
his time to statecraft. All intelligent Southerners 
were students, but they were not all occupied in 
studying the science of government. Some spent 
their lives in perfecting the art of making the mint 
julep and training the human system to assimilate 
it without any serious confusion of thought or en- 



164 Moore's History of the States 

tangling alliance of the feet and legs; others still 
were devoting their attention to improving the con- 
formation and speed of the thoroughbred. The 
owner of one of these superb animals entered in a 
race was not only deprived of a most pleasurable 
sensation when his horse was detained in transit 
until the other horse had reached the terminal, but 
he was likewise separated from more or less circu- 
lating medium, which under the rules of procedure 
he was required to deposit in advance with a stake- 
holder, as an evidence of the confidence he had in 
the ability of his entry to make the round trip In 
less time than required by his fleet-footed rivals. 

There were some, however, whose leisure mo- 
ments were devoted to more unselfish purposes. 
The ideal Southern home was constructed with a 
broad veranda running all around the house ; morn- 
ing glories, Virginia creepers, honeysuckles and 
other varieties of foliage and caterpillars were in 
the habit of climbing up over these porches, and 
the glare of the sun on the surrounding fields 
was thereby softened. A vv^ell-tralned pickaninny 
was always kept in calling distance, whose duty it 
was to move the rocking chair from time to time, 
aiming always to keep the building between It and 
the shifting sun. The occupant of such place was 
Ideally situated to study civic problems, and It was 
in just such factories that most of the celebrated 
statesmen of former days were manufactured. 

At that time there were no Sunday papers, with 
all their distracting sensations and demoralizing 
pictures. Indeed, there were few dailies of any 



Phases and Institutions of American Life 165 

kind, and these were In most cases delivered not 
oftener than twice a week on the plantation. There 
were few putrid books of the "Three Weeks" or 
"Speaking of Ellen" varieties to rob one of his 
time and sense of decency, so there was nothing left 
for the man of leisure but to study politics. But 
later the demand for statesmen fell off and less 
attention was paid to their production. The people 
both North and South got busy gathering coin and 
had no time for patriotic efforts. 

The United States gradually became a commer- 
cial government with the capital at Wall Street. 
It started there and finally drifted back to the 
home of its childhood. 

There is nothing particularly impressive about 
Wall Street to the casual observer. Indeed it does 
not look like a street at all, but has rather the ap- 
pearance of an alley or an open-top subway. It is 
simply a narrow passage-way between two rows of 
tall and imposing buildings, and many of the peo- 
ple who occupy them are imposing, too. The name 
is doubtless suggested by the high piles of brick and 
stones that rise up on either side, like the wall of 
a prison, to prevent the escape of any one who may 
enter the street with a dollar in his pocket. 

This thoroughfare of finance has been correctly 
described as a short and narrow way, with a 
grave yard at one end and a murky river at the 
other; when you have spent all your money you are 
at liberty to take your choice between the two. 
Old Trinity Church guards the Broadway en- 
trance; but there are many things told in that mar- 



i66 Moore's History of the States 

ket place besides the bell in the steeple. The doors 
of the historic sanctuary are always ajar, that the 
speculator may pray for help before he approaches 
the exchange, and return thanks for deliverance 
when he gets out. A life-and-a-half sized statue 
of General Washington has stood for many years 
in front of the Sub-treasury building, and all the 
time he has never once taken his eye off the build- 
ing immediately across the street, the building oc- 
cupied by J. Pierpont Morgan and Company. The 
first President was always regarded as a splendid 
judge of human nature, and he knew who needed 
watching. 

The principal place of interest on Wall Street 
is what is known as the Stock Exchange. That is 
the place where you exchange your money for ex- 
perience. The exchange is a great big square 
room, with no furniture in it at all, except a few 
sign-boards covered with rapidly appearing and 
disappearing figures; a stranger would think the 
multiplication table was playing a game of hide and 
seek. The visitor, looking down from the gallery, 
who has read of seats on the exchange selling for 
fabulous sums, is amazed to find that the place 
really has no seats at all, but the owner of that 
exclusive luxury has merely the privilege of stand- 
ing — no, not standing, but walking about, for no 
one has the right to pre-empt any one particular 
spot. The men who rush to and fro on the floor, 
yelling at each other words you cannot distinguish 
on account of the confusion, and could not under- 
stand if there were no other noises to interfere, 



Phases and Inst'ititt'wns of American Life i6j 

are called "brokers," because they have broken so 
many men and women who have dealt with them. 

Trading on the stock exchange is in the nature of 
an occult transaction. 1; ou cannot see what is go- 
ing on, except when you pass your monev to the 
broker, and you seldom see that again. Your op- 
erations consist in selling what you never had and 
buying what no one else owns. There is one great 
advantage in this kind of speculation, however; if 
you happen to purchase what you do not want, it 
makes no difference, for you do not get it anyway. 
The cotton and produce exchanges conduct their 
business in the same absent-treatment manner; a 
man frequently sells ten thousand or more bales of 
cotton who does not actually have enough of the 
commodity to fill a hollow tooth ; yet he is perfectly 
safe in doing so, because the individual who buys 
it does not want it, and would have no place to put 
it if it were delivered. Joe Leiter once bought sev- 
eral million bushels of wheat, and then did not 
have enough to make a breakfast for an English 
sparrow. And Joe would have gone without 
breakfast, too, if father had not come to his as- 
sistance. 

If one wishes to cultivate a closer acquaintance 
with the subject matter of his stock exchange trans- 
actions, he can easily arrange to do so, but it is con- 
siderably more expensive. Instead of buying and 
selling on margins, as we have already described 
and as most poor people do, purchases may be 
made outright; then you get some very handsome 
souvenirs in the shape of stock certificates. These 



1 68 Moore's History of the States 

are usually engraved and beautifully colored. The 
green ones look a good bit like overgrown bank 
notes, but they are not related even by marriage. 
Sometimes they are gotten out with a rich yellow 
complexion that reminds one of gold certificates, 
but there is a big difference. These certificates 
have no intrinsic value; they are only the prelimi- 
nary symptoms of something you are liable to get, 
and may be very fitly described by St. Paul's defini- 
tion of faith — "the substance of things hoped for, 
the evidence of things not seen," 

The holder of a certificate representing stock in 
a railroad or any other corporation is entitled to 
be notified when the board of directors passes a 
dividend, and also has the privilege of a reserved 
seat at the receiver's sale of the company's assets. 
When you actually buy the certificate the transac- 
tion is an investment, not a speculation. You in- 
vest in something you keep, and there is no trouble 
to keep anything you get on Wall Street. 

One great advantage in the stock market meth- 
ods is that anybody who has money can take a 
hand in the game, no matter where he may be, or 
what his business. Contributions may be forward- 
ed by mail, with just as much certainty of loss as 
if the operator were on the ground. In fact the 
absent speculator has the advantage, for he saves 
his time, and saves some of the small change he 
would spend buying drinks for the other loafers 
round the ticker. Men who deal on Wall Street 
are known as bulls and bears on account of their 
manners. 



Phases and Institutions of American Life 169 

The broker is not the selfish individual some 
would have you believe. He does not keep all the 
money his customers lose, but divides it with the 
professional manipulators who create the fluctua- 
tions so essential to an active market. When he 
sells stock in a gold or copper mine a part of the 
proceeds is very often used in trying to find a re- 
mote and inaccessible spot in which to locate the 
mine, where no curious stockholder will take the 
trouble to visit it. Another evidence of his gen- 
erosity is the fact that as soon as he gets any inside 
information concerning some exceptional bargain 
that is about to be offered he carries it straight to 
his customers before any one else has a chance to 
avail himself of the opportunity; and he lets his 
friends have the whole business. No one ever 
heard of a broker keeping a bargain, or any part of 
it, for himself. 

There is a system of trading in Wall Street by 
what is known as "puts" and "calls," a system in- 
vented by that well-known philanthropist, Russell 
Sage. If we may judge by the financial success of 
that gentleman, the system is certainly not without 
Its merits. Very much depends, of course, upon 
whether you are doing the putting and calling your- 
self or permitting some one else to work it on you. 
Mr. Sage always handled the instrument. His 
scheme was to have the speculator leave a certain 
sum in his hands, then when he wanted more he 
would "call" his customer. W^hen he finally got all 
the poor fellow had, he would "put" him out. In 
this manner Mr. Sage accumulated an immense 



lyo Moore's History of the States 

fortune in spite of his generous benefactions. He 
was systematic in his donations, as he was in every- 
thing else, never allowing himself to give a penny 
until he had thoroughly satisfied himself as to the 
worthiness of the object, and he never had time to 
investigate. In the latter part of his career Mr. 
Sage attributed his success largely to his practice 
of limiting his lunch to a single red apple. Wall 
Street is now the apple market of the world. 

But the spirit of speculation and desire to accu- 
mulate wealth were not confined to the money- 
changers of Wall Street ; the whole country became 
infected by the get-rich-quick microbe. Public offi- 
cials began to use their positions to aid in acquir- 
ing more than belonged to them, and the unearned 
increments which were procured in this manner 
were designated as "graft." Finally the term was 
applied to anything which was gotten on the side 
and not stipulated in the deal. 

Webster, in his book of words and what they 
are good for, tells us "a graft is a small shoot or 
branch of a tree inserted into another tree from 
which it derives its life and support." Therefore, 
according to this distinguished language specialist, 
anybody who gets his support out of some one else 
is "a grafter." For example, when one's poor kin 
come into the house and make themselves at home 
they are, for the time being, grafters. So the indo- 
lent creature who loafs round talking politics, 
while his wife takes in washing to buy his clothes 
and tobacco, is the worst kind of a grafter. The 
term "graft" is also of well established use in the 



Phases and Institutions of American Life 171 

terminology of modern surgery. A surface wound 
is healed by grafting the skin of one person on an- 
other. Therefore, "skinning" a man is a grafting 
process ; in fact any sort of a skin game is graft. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE ERA OF CORPORATIONS 

It was while Theodore Roosevelt was First Con- 
sul of the American Republic that corporations be- 
came so conspicuous in public affairs. They had 
been among us for many years, but the people had 
really never made their intimate acquaintance be- 
fore that time. To whom is due the credit for the 
invention of these fictitious persons we are not 
able to say, but it was doubtless some one who was 
about to make a business venture in the financial 
success of which he had little confidence. The 
difference between a corporation and an individual 
is that the former has all the privileges of the lat- 
ter without assuming the obligations. When an 
individual engages in a business enterprise he must 
take his chance; if it succeeds, all right; if it fails, 
he fails with it. Not so with a corporation; it is 
so constituted that it may keep the resultant profits 
and repudiate the losses. 

Corporations, we have been taught, have no 
souls; that is to say, they are altogether material 
and have nothing to do with the Hereafter; a 
contention that observation seems to confirm. 
When a corporation becomes bankrupt either 

172 



The Era of Corporations 173 

through accident or design it simply dissolves — 
which is the legal expression tor going out of ex- 
istence. Of course it could not do this, if, like 
other immortal things, it had a soul. When it dis- 
solves the individuals who composed it may start 
over in some new corporate name. The advantage 
of this privilege is apparent; should a creditor of 
the old concern come round and present his bill 
against the Consolidated Grafting Company, the 
president, Mr. Swindle, simply says: "jNIy dear 
sir, you are too late. There Is no such company. 
It went out of existence last week. This is now the 
office of the Amalgamated Skinning Company, 
Limited." 

"But," replies the claimant, "are you not the 
same people and doing the same business?" 

"Quite true. We are the same and doing the 
same," says Mr. Swindle, "but the new concern 
has nothing whatever to do with the old." 

Here the advantage of a soulless being is again 
apparent; for, if it had a future existence, it is easy 
to guess where the scorned creditor would suggest 
the company should arrange to spend that future. 

When the beauties of this system of liquidation 
began to be understood by the public, corporations 
became exceedingly popular. They not only grew 
in number, but they waxed in strength. Finally it 
occurred to some particularly resourceful operator 
that if individuals could profit by associating them- 
selves together in corporations, why would it not 
be wise for a number of companies to unite in one 
body? They tried it and the effect was most grati- 



174 Moore's History of the States 

fying. This new consolidation of consolidations 
was called a Trust, because it was a sort of confi- 
dence game. 

It was not a great while until corporations, little 
and big, began to claim everything in sight, and 
they usually got all they claimed. A person doing 
business in his own name, or even in the name of 
his wife — for many cautious individuals have their 
business and religion in the names of their wives — 
had no chance in the world to compete with a cor- 
poration. The business advantage lies partly in 
the dual existence of the latter, for every man who 
incorporates leads a double life, speaking from a 
business standpoint. He can be himself and get 
the benefit of all that his personal character en- 
titles him to receive, and at the same time round 
up a few fat dividends in the name of his company 
by indulging in certain transactions he would not 
dare conduct as a member of his family and a 
prominent citizen. On Sunday morning he can go 
to church, on Sunday afternoon he can lecture to 
his Sunday-school class on the importance of keep- 
ing the Sabbath by abstaining from all kinds of 
worldly employment; but his corporation goes on 
doing business just the same, and the oil of glad- 
ness keeps flowing through the pipe line. Or he 
may lay an offering on the altar of charity where it 
will do much good and attract a great deal of at- 
tention, and next day send his corporation out to 
sand-bag some poor fellow and get it back with a 
liberal bonus besides. 

Just a plain, ordinary human being, who has to 



The Era of Corporations 175 

account in his own proper person for all he does 
and all he has, cannot do things that way. If he 
does the law will get him here and the devil will get 
him hereafter. But what does it matter if the cor- 
poration does break every one of the command- 
ments? When the day of judgment is at hand 
all the president of the concern has to do is to 
march boldly up to the desk and present an extract 
from the minute book, certified under the corpo- 
rate seal, showing that at a duly called meeting of 
the stockholders it was agreed by unanimous vote 
to dissolve the company, together with an affi- 
davit setting forth that said resolution was pub- 
lished for four successive weeks in a newspaper of 
general circulation in the county wherein the cor- 
poration was domiciled. As a matter of fact the 
meeting does not have to be held at all; all that is 
necessary is to have the minutes properly written 
up when they are needed. It is then useless to pur- 
sue the affair further, so Gabriel will charge it up 
to profit and loss. 

The fact that a corporation does not have to 
bother about its methods, but is perfectly free to 
use any opportunity in sight, enables it, of course, to 
do a better business than it could otherwise hope to 
conduct. Look at all the very rich men we have, 
and you will see that most of them have pros- 
pered through their corporate operations. Take 
our good brother, John D. Rockefeller, for in- 
stance. He has not done a really hard day's work 
for years; yet while he is playing golf and telling 
poor people how to enjoy their misery, his corpora- 



176 Moore's History of the States 

tions go right along collecting tolls for three hun- 
dred and sixty-five days In the year, and one day 
more every leap year. And see the result. Why, 
he has so much money he had to start a number of 
banks so he could use the Income to pay himself 
the Interest on his daily balances ! In that way he 
disposes of his surplus and at the same time keeps 
anybody else from getting It. 

And there is Scotland's contribution to America, 
Andrew Carnegie. He has raked together some 
four or five hundred millions in a comparatively 
short time, and used a corporation rake when do- 
ing It. Nobody believes he could have accom- 
plished so much by any other means. He built up 
a great steel corporation, then took a mortgage 
on all it and retired from business. Since then Mr. 
Carnegie has devoted the greater part of his time 
to erecting monuments to himself all over the 
country — monuments; he calls them libraries. The 
city or town that secures one of these libraries 
must first agree to build part of It with Its own 
money, then give bond with approved security that 
it will levy an annual tax for four thousand years 
to come, which tax is to be used in taking care of 
the memorial, giving special attention to the gilded 
letters of his name above the doordest they become 
tarnished. What a comfort It will be for the poor 
fellows who must toil to pay this perennial tax to 
go into the libraries on holidays, when they can- 
not work, there to sit down and read Baxter's 
Saints' Rest or Carnegie's Blessings of Self- 
Denlal ! 



The Era of Corporations 177 

Contented Andy is now president of the Opti- 
mist Club of America. And why should he not be ? 
Was any one ever better equipped to be optimistic 
than he? The pass-word of the club is "Smile," 
and he has so many things to make him smile. It 
is noticeable, though, that he is not in the habit of 
dropping in and asking the boys to have a smile 
with him. The truth is, the world is full of men 
any one of whom would not only smile, but roar 
with laughter, if they had Mr. Carnegie's income 
for a single day. The difference between the op- 
timist and the pessimist, according to the creed of 
this club, is that the former sees the doughnut, 
while the latter sees only the hole in the center. 
Of course the club president sees no hole in his 
doughnut; it is all cake from center to circumfer- 
ence. But there are multitudes of human beings 
who have to content themselves with rimless 
doughnuts. It is the kind of optimism that glad- 
dens the hearts of these needy creatures for which 
there is a steady demand. 

Another conspicuous example of corporate bene- 
fits is found in the very profitable business career 
of J, Pierpont Morgan, who has made a specialty 
of organizing and controlling financial institutions. 
For a number of years Mr. Morgan has devoted 
his attention largely to the operation of a corpo- 
ration dry dock, where enterprises which do not 
float readily whenfirst launched are overhauled and 
made sea-worthy. For this service there is a lib- 
eral reward, which enables him to make additions 
to his art collections. Mr, Morgan is very inti- 



178 Moore's History of the States 

mate with the crowned heads and other empty 
heads of the European countries, to whom he fre- 
quently advances loans on their jewels, thrones 
and castles. It Is unusual to find him without a 
number of kingdoms on hand, which he has ac- 
quired in foreclosure proceedings. 

There are many others who might be mentioned 
in this connection if it were necessary. Just a word 
may be said about Hettie Green, who simply dotes 
on corporation stocks and bonds. She owns the 
Chemical National and a few other small banks, 
and could, indeed, have been a very rich woman 
but for the extravagant way in which she has lived. 
Year after year she has paid as much as sixteen 
dollars a month for a flat in Hoboken, when she 
might have rented one plenty good on the lower 
East-side for fourteen and a half, or even less. 
It was not only the difference in rent she was los- 
ing during all that period, but likewise the time 
she consumed in crossing the ferry, time which 
might have been spent in sweeping out the bank, 
thus saving the janitor's pay. 



CHAPTER XXII 

CORPORATE LEGISLATION AND INVESTIGATION 

In course of time the people who owned no cor- 
porations, but had to work for a living, grew tired 
of their disadvantages, and began to complain of 
corporate greed. Efforts were made to secure 
legislative restraints, but very little was at first 
accomplished in that direction, because the law- 
making bodies were usually either made up of or 
controlled by representatives of the companies 
complained of. The two great political parties 
regularly made solemn promise in their platforms 
to destroy the trusts, but when election was over 
they recalled the obligations they were under for 
campaign assistance, and decided that ingratitude 
was even worse than bad faith. This sort of thing 
was kept up till Mr. Roosevelt entered upon his 
second term. I'hen It was found that public sen- 
timent was united in its hostility towards corpora- 
tions and its determination to reform them. The 
President realized the reformation was bound to 
come, so he decided to take hold of it and call it 
his own. True the concerns against which he now 
proposed to wage war had practically all aided him 
in his election, but what of that? He was elected 

179 



i8o Moore's History of the States 

now and it might be some time before he would 
again need their assistance. He had learned while 
leading the life of a cow-boy on the Western plains 
that it was much safer to run with the herd than 
against it, so now he dashed to the front and be- 
came leader of the crusade. 

In order to show his uncompromising attitude 
toward combinations, and his fixed purpose to 
destroy them, the President ordered the familiar 
inscription stricken from the coin of the nation, be- 
cause it contained the word "trust"; then he gave 
orders that all railroads should be haltered and 
broken to the saddle, and that the Standard Oil 
Company should be scourged from the face of the 
earth. He clenched his fist and brought his teeth 
together with a firmness which indicated that no 
guilty man should escape, and few that were in- 
nocent. Congress was notified that it must follow 
instructions to the letter or get out of Washing- 
ton, and the several State governments were 
warned that they would be permitted to exist only 
so long as orders from the White House were 
obeyed in every detail. 

The wrath of the people and the ravings of the 
politicians were directed in the main against rail- 
road companies. Why it should have been so is 
hard to understand, for railroad owners and em- 
ployes have always been amazingly considerate of 
the common people. The accommodation and 
pleasure of the public has always been their first 
concern. If you happen to owe a railroad any- 
thing it insists that you shall take your own time 



Corporate Legislation and Investigation i8i 

about paying it, while if there should be something 
coming to you on account of an overcharge on a 
shipment of dried apples, a man is sent round yes- 
terday or to-day, or never later than to-morrow, 
to bring you the exact change and an apology for 
having made the mistake. 

It has long been a matter of comment how 
anxious everybody about a railroad station is to 
give one information concerning a late train for 
which one is waiting. Address the ticket agent, 
and when he gets good and ready he points to a 
window across the room labeled, "Information 
Bureau." You go there and wait for the attendant 
to check a grip and an umbrella for another tired 
traveler, and sell a ferry ticket to a fat woman car- 
rying a baby and leading two more. Finallyyou get 
his attention and begin to inquire about your train, 
when the telephone rings and he takes up the re- 
ceiver to engage in a long controversy concerning 
a piece of baggage that has gone astray. Finally 
you manage to put your question; whereupon he 
tries to tell you there is no such train as the one for 
which you have already bought your ticket. Then 
when you point it out to him on the folder, he 
simply says you had better go outside and see how 
it is chalked up on the bulletin board. You obey, 
and the board reports the train forty minutes late. 
It is really three hours behind, but they put it forty 
minutes to save your feelings. The idea is to 
break the news to you on the installment plan, and 
not give you more than you can stand at any one 
time. It must not be forgotten, either, that the 



1 82 Moore's History of the States 

schedule of a train is meant only to fix the mini- 
mum time to be consumed. There is no promise 
on the part of the operating company that the 
train will arrive at the hour mentioned; that is 
simply a guarantee it will not reach the point 
earlier than the hour stipulated. 

But in spite of all the generosity and courtesy 
of the railroads, the people got down on them and 
something had to be done. Politicians were sug- 
gesting all manner of schemes to meet the necessi- 
ties of the case, when Mr. Bryan came to the front, 
as usual, with a complete remedy. He had spent a 
year investigating the subject in foreign coun- 
tries — for it is the custom in recent years to go 
abroad to study American problems — and to his 
way of thinking there was but one solution, namely, 
government ownership. Forthwith he had the 
compound patented and offered its use to the coun- 
try, provided he should be employed to administer 
the treatment. 

Then came President Roosevelt, who in his ac- 
customed vigorous way proceeded to demonstrate 
the folly of the government ownership plan, offer- 
ing government control in its stead. Ownership, 
he argued, implied expense and responsibility, just 
what the government does not want. What object 
is there in owning the roads, anyway? Leave that 
to the stockholders, and let the government be con- 
tent to direct their management. Why should the 
government be burdened with the cost of maintain- 
ing and operating the properties, or be bothered 
about the defence of damage suits when freight is 



Corporate Legislation and Investigation 183 

lost or when husbands, cows and other animals are 
killed? That should all be left to the stockhold- 
ers. Furthermore, if the roads were owned by the 
government they could not be taxed as they now 
are, and everybody knows we need the money. It 
is infinitely more economical and far less hazard- 
ous to control the property of another than it is to 
own it outright. 

Finally the logic of Mr. Roosevelt prevailed, 
State and Federal legislatures started their mills to 
grinding, and in a short time turned out several 
million wholesome statutes and arranged for a still 
larger production in future. 

If these laws are not wise and just, the railroads 
have only themselves to blame for it. By far the 
larger number of the law-makers could never have 
found their way to Washington and the several 
State capitals but lor the assistance afforded them 
by the railway trains. Indeed, trains have made it 
their business to carry so many common people 
that we have acquired the habit of calling them 
common carriers. 

The effect of taking a few bottles of Roosevelt's 
Railway Regulator was very noticeable. Under 
the old regime favors were shown to just a few 
large shippers and influential politicians; now no 
one gets them. Formerly all the lower berths on 
the Pullman coaches were reserved for the paste- 
board travelers; now everybody pays his fare and 
rides in an upper. Instead of a few getting the 
best of everything and the rest taking what is left, 
as was formerly the case, the railways now recog- 



184 Moore's History of the States 

nize no obligations, make absolutely no distinc- 
tions, subjecting all alike to every lawful incon- 
venience and discomfort. 

Passenger rates have in many localities been 
greatly reduced by legislative enactment, which 
works a great hardship on the poorer classes who 
never use the trains. As an observing Irishman 
expressed it, he used to walk and save three cents 
a mile ; now when he walks the best he can do Is to 
save two cents a mile. 

While the work of regenerating the railroads 
was going on, other corporations which had in- 
curred the displeasure of the administration were 
receiving a fair share of gratuitous advertising. 
The department of justice Increased Its force by 
the employment of some 400,000 special attor- 
neys and 850,000 detectives. This of course 
helped the general situation very much, since It 
gave employment to a class of people whose Idle- 
ness was not only a burden, but a menace to society. 
The average man will not take the trouble to pick 
a lock or a pocket when he can find a nice, easy job 
with a good salary attached. 

One of the first proceedings under the new order 
of things was instituted against the Western meat 
packers, known In politics and romance as the Beef 
Trust. Some of their officers and products had 
gotten to be in bad odor, so the agents of the gov- 
ernment were instructed to lay the business open to 
the bone. 

It was no easy task to get at these offenders. 
One of them could not be caught, because he was 



Corporate Legislation and Investigation 185 

Swift, and the projectiles of the government's big 
guns failed utterly to pierce the Armour of an- 
other. Nevertheless, after four years of constant 
and bewildered activity, the legal department suc- 
ceded in getting the names of the officers of sev- 
eral of the companies and reported progress in 
their efforts to procure a list of the stockholders. 

The investigations of the detectiv'e force seemed 
to make it perfectly plain that the mercenary op- 
erators of these packing houses had even been 
skinning the poor dumb brutes; while positive 
proof was obtained that some of their meat prod- 
ucts were made from the flesh of dead animals. 
Unfortunately the greater part of this incrimi- 
nating evidence can not be used against the de- 
fendants, for the incredible story of their wrong- 
doings was obtained by the secret service men 
through a tedious and painful reading of "The 
Jungle," which it was discovered was protected by 
a copyright. But the government felt there was 
too much at steak to relax its diligence, which 
policy led the packers to announce that thereafter, 
when the meat is found to be bad, they will sepa- 
rate what they can, and can what they can't. 

An effort was made, too, to dissolve the sugar 
trust. If that had been accomplished it would 
have revolutionized the method of sweetening. 
We are accustomed of course to using dissolved 
sugar in our toddies, but it has never been the prac- 
tice in high life to put syrup in tea and coffee. 

The most stubborn and spectacular battle of all 
was waged against the Standard Oil Company, of 



1 86 Moore's History of the States 

New Jersey and elsewhere. For many years this 
was not only the largest, but the best lubricated 
machine on the public highway. There is a wide 
difference of opinion as to the merits of this cor- 
poration. One thing, however, is admitted on 
every hand: whatever the real character of the 
company may be, its work is thoroughly refined. 

Standard Oil may be described as the sphinx of 
the trusts. It has done more business and less 
talking than any other operator of which we have 
any knowledge; in which particular it differs from 
those who were charged with its correction, for 
they did more talking and less business than all 
other modern prosecutors combined. The Honor- 
able Charles J. Bonaparte, who, it is conceded, 
filled the office of Ex-Attorney General to the en- 
tire satisfaction of the people, gave special atten- 
tion to the prosecution of this monster during the 
time of his engagement as legal adviser of the 
government. Like his very distinguished kinsman, 
the Honorable Napoleon Bonaparte of Corsica, 
who gained notoriety by his marked resemblance 
to Delphin M. Delmas, of San Francisco and New 
York, Charles J. pursued the enemy with ceaseless 
vigilance; and, again, like his renowned kinsman, 
he concluded his official career by winning a glori- 
ous defeat. 

It was an exceedingly difficult case to prosecute. 
The defendant had not made it a business to adver- 
tise its methods. The work of the Standard Oil 
publicity committee was to suppress news items 
and elude reporters; in which efforts it had met 



Corporate Legislation and Investigation 187 

with marked success. Next to the man who pub- 
lishes a book over his own name, the easiest per- 
son to convict of high crimes and misdemeanors is 
the one who is gifted in speech and freely exercises 
his gift. Old letters and preserved fragments of 
conversation are sometimes most embarrassing 
when suddenly brought in to confront the witness. 
Just as the pen is mightier than the eraser, so is 
assertion stronger than denial. 

The Standard Oil Company had always made 
it a rule to give away nothing, not even its secrets. 
It had kept its money and grown rich; it had kept 
its information and grown wise. Those who are 
in a position to make the best guess also insist that 
it kept its books in such a manner that they dis- 
close nothing whatever, except to the members of 
the Oil family. Not only so, but most of the 
operations of the company are carried on under 
the surface. Its pipe hnes are buried out of sight 
and the liquid assets flow through them without a 
ripple or a murmur. 

But in spite of all these precautions, and in spite 
of all the untold tales, a suspicion arose that the 
Company's untold wealth was not all righteously 
acquired. The difference between the lawful rate 
of interest, six per cent., and the dividends actually 
paid, usually fortv-eight per cent,, was commonlv 
accepted as the measure of its iniquity. How can 
they do it honestly? That was the inquiry on the 
lips of the people. So general, indeed, became the 
impression that there was something wrong and 
very wrong, that many began to speak of the Stand- 



1 88 Moore's History of the States 

ard Oil's wealth as "tainted money." Some, in- 
deed, to whom it was never offered, went so far as 
to refuse it with scorn. But in all these days of 
abuse and persecution the University of Chicago 
and the Baptist Church never once lost faith in 
their benefactor, nor found fault with a Rockefel- 
ler penny — except the ones they did not get ! 

President Roosevelt called together his extermi- 
nating force, and in a collection of his most virile 
nouns, verbs and epithets gave mandatory instruc- 
tions that no pains nor expense should be spared to 
rid the country of this giant absorber of the na- 
tion's wealth, lest we should all be speedily de- 
voured. His forces went forth with renewed de- 
termination, and shortly their perseverance was 
rewarded. The attorneys and sleuths represent- 
mg the government uncovered the monumental 
crime of the century, not committed by the particu- 
lar company against which the fight was being 
made, but by one of its spoiled and wayward chil- 
dren. What difference did that make? It was 
all in the family and an appalling example must be 
made of somebody. 

It seems that the Standard Oil Company of In- 
diana had been making shipments on a freight 
rate which by some inadvertence the railway com- 
pany had failed to publish in technical compliance 
with the law — though that charge was never 
proved. The Oil Company had actually used the 
rate quoted without first sending a committee to 
Washington to ascertain whether the railroad 
company had done its full duty. 



Corporate Legislation and Investigation 1S9 

For this succession of separate and distinct 
crimes the Indiana Company was duly indicted by 
a Federal grand jury — one of the grandest juries 
that ever sat. It was then tried before a jury of 
Its peers, as the law requires, and the accused was 
found guilty. Then the presiding judge, His 
Honor Kenesaw Mountain Landis, rose to the oc- 
casion and imposed a fine of $29,000,000. 

But this great triumph of justice was short lived. 
Judge Grosscup set the verdict aside, and the Su- 
preme Court of the United States said he did right, 
although the President had denounced him for his 
interference. What did the Supreme Court know 
about it? Then came another trial; this time be- 
fore another judge, who actually dismissed the 
complaint and let the record-breaking fine get away 
Irom us just when we were planning to use it the 
next Panama Canal pay day! How badly we 
needed that money nobody but the Secretary of the 
Treasury will ever know. It was the opinion of 
one judge that the defendant should be fined $29,- 
000,000, and of another that it should not be fined 
a cent. The case will go down in history as the 
biggest difference of opinion ever publicly ex- 
pressed. 

But there were still others to be called to ac- 
count. The American Tobacco Company, which 
for a long period had been arrogant and defiant, 
was not to escape unwhipped. Orders were given 
that it should be pursued and made to smoke. 



190 Moore's History of the States 

Then the Ice Company was to be handed a cold 
deal. In the entire trust family there was but one 
child whose innocence and unfailing virtue so ap- 
pealed to the administration that it was to be re- 
warded and not punished — the United States Steel 
Company, This model corporation was pointed 
to with pride and held up as a worthy example be- 
fore its less deserving playmates, and as a token of 
esteem and affection it was given what its heart 
most desired, the Tennessee Coal and Iron Com- 
pany. 

The splendid result of all this prosecution is 
apparent in the case of the Northern Securities 
Company, which was one of the first patients to be 
treated with the Roosevelt virus. The stock of 
that company had already advanced about one 
hundred and fifty per cent, since it was convicted 
and dissolved. 

Meanwhile some of the State authorities took 
the Federal cue and got into the hunt. In New 
York, complaint was made against the methods 
of the big insurance companies. The people 
wanted to know who was paying for Jimmie 
Hyde's violets and Cambon dinners. The legisla- 
ture accordingly appointed an investigating com- 
mittee, the members of which knew nothing what- 
ever about the matter they were given in charge. 
It was therefore decided to engage the services of 
a professional interrogator. Arrangements were 
made to have the examinations conducted by Mr. 



Corporate Legislation and Investigation 191 

Charles E. Hughes, a New York attorney, who 
was reputed to be a mathematical prodigy. It is 
said that when a very small boy he used to carry 
logarithms instead of marbles around in his pock- 
ets, and consistently refused to take any nourish- 
ment unless his meals were served on the multipli- 
cation table. With his marvelous skill in manipu- 
lating figures, what a success he might have made 
as a Fifth Avenue tailor! He had also shown 
unusual genius as an inquisitor. Before he was five 
years old it was not an unusual thing for him to 
ask questions which his parents could not answer, 
and when he grew up it was common for him to 
ask questions he could not answer himself. 

Day after day public hearings were conducted 
in the City Hall, where in the presence of the mul- 
titude ledgers were spread open and learned discus- 
sions carried on as to the best methods of extract- 
ing cube roots and finding the greatest common 
divisor. Yet with all his domination of mind 
over matter, this wonderful man demonstrated 
that he had a human side to his character. It had 
been shown that a leak had sprung in the insurance 
money tank; that the sacred fund drawn from the 
meager earnings of the people for the future pro- 
tection of their widows and orphans was escaping: 
then it was found that a part of the waste had 
been dripping into the campaign bucket of the 
party to which Mr. Hughes belonged, and which 
he hoped would later belong to him. 



192 Moore's History of the States 

At that point the trail was suddenly lost, and no 
further effort was made to locate it. What use in- 
deed was there to go further? Money contributed 
to save the country is surely well spent. Moreover 
the insurance reserves had already grown too 
large, and saving, like everything else, should be 
done in moderation. Donald G. Mitchell used to 
define saving as denying yourself what you want 
when you are young that you may have what you 
do not want when you are old. 

The result of all the investigation of the insur- 
ance companies was primarily to advertise Mr. 
Hughes, and incidentally to bring about a change 
in their management. The disclosures destroyed 
the faith the public had in the institutions, some- 
thing therefore had to be done to restore it. These 
enormous interests were accordingly taken out of 
the hands of the officials who knew the business, 
and had grown rich, and were turned over to an- 
other set of men, who did not know the business, 
and wanted to grow rich. 

When the time came to select a man to head the 
Equitable Assurance Company, the desire was to 
find some one whose character was in keeping with 
the name of the corporation. After looking the 
field over, the trustees were convincedthat, whether 
equitable or not, Paul Morton had more available 
assurance than any other applicant for the job. 
Arrangements were therefore made to secure his 
services. He not only had his own unqualified en- 
dorsement for the position, but was likewise rec- 
ommended by the President, who had previously 



Corporate Legislation and Investigation 193 

taken him Into his official family at Washington. 
There may have been some things that Paul did 
not know about insurance, but, if so, he never was 
heard to confess it. 



CHAPl'ER XXIII 

NEW YORK CITY AND STATE 

We are warranted, it would seem, in devoting 
a limited space to the special consideration of 
politics and politicians in the State and city of 
New York, not because their people are any better, 
or have any more per capita importance, than any 
other American citizens, but for the reason that 
we there find a greater number of them herded 
together, and because they complacently submit 
to leadership and domination which it is hard to 
believe an enlightened people would tolerate. 

For many years the city of New York has been 
overwhelmingly Democratic, whenever the Demo- 
cratic leaders will permit it to be so; while the bal- 
ance of the State is even more certainly Republi- 
can. This naturally perpetuates a contest between 
the up-staters and the dwellers in the Metropolis. 
When the legislature convenes the bucolic dele- 
gates present a solid front, and forthwith form an 
alliance with the minority representatives from 
the big city, which usually enables them to or- 
ganize the body and control its deliberations, if 
the proceedings of any such gathering may be re- 
ferred to as "deliberations." Should some votes 

194 



New York City and State 195 

be lacking to accomplish this purpose, the shortage 
can be made up by going into the open market and 
acquiring title to a few Tammany men who are 
open to conviction, and believe in making hay 
while the sun shines. Indeed the sun always shines 
in Albany when the legislature is in session. It 
never occurs to the opposition from Manhattan 
to bid for these accommodating patriots, for they 
are acquainted with them, and fear they would not 
be sufficiently honest to stay bought. 

The result of this coalition is that the burden 
of all State taxation is laid on the inhabitants of the 
city by the sea, while the rural districts are com- 
paratively exempt. Thus year after year the Dem- 
ocrats send their money up the State to build school 
houses in which the boys of the farmers may be 
taught to vote the straight Republican ticket, pre- 
serve the blessings of protection and send Chaun- 
cey Depew to the United States Senate. There is 
no other spot on earth where so much generosity 
is shown by one political party to another. 

Why do the Democrats submit to it? Well, 
there is a reason. In New York the people have 
professional political leaders, who make it their 
business to lead in the direction that pays best; 
and it is an easy matter to obtain vastly more for 
delivering the party into the hands of its enemies 
than the amount that would be saved to them per- 
sonally by a just distribution of taxes. There are 
few investments that pay half so well in that State 
as a well-manipulated political machine. 

It must not be inferred, however, that there are 



196 Moore's History of the States 

no high-class men identified with New York poli- 
tics. Call the roll of celebrities and witness the 
line-up. There, for instance, is the accomplished 
chairman of the Democratic State Executive Com- 
mittee, the Hon. W. J. Conners, alias Fingy Con- 
ners, from the city of Buffalo (with apologies 
to the good people of the Bison City for disclos- 
ing his habitation). He has long been called 
"Fingy" on account of the habit he has of eating 
pie with his fingers — when there is no knife handy. 
Fingy prides himself in being one of the common 
people — in fact one of the commonest, and he 
boasts, like the distinguished Bill Devery, of his 
familiarity with everything "touchin' on and ap- 
pertainin' to" their welfare. 

Conners is not a Frenchman, as his name would 
indicate. His polished Parisian manners have come 
to him as the result of eating French dressing on 
his salad at the Waldorf-Astoria, where he always 
stops when the committee pays the bill. He is a 
self-made man, as any one can tell at a glance, and 
the impression left on the observer is that it must 
have been a hurry-up job. 

The State chairman was born to command — 
everything but confidence and respect. His genius 
for leadership first attracted attention when he 
was engaged in leading blind geese to water on his 
poultry farm. When in this effort he had become 
notably efficient he began to direct his attention 
to political leadership. FVom the very first, men 
followed him gladly, for no one would take a 
chance on walking in front, with his back to Fingy. 



New York City and State 197 

Conners was never a fluent speaker, though he 
managed to acquire the use of a few English 
words, which, with some of his own make and 
his forceful gestures, enabled him to communicate 
his desires to the waiter and bar tender. His pub- 
lic speeches always read better than they sounded 
to his audience; for the reporters, being unable to 
take his exact words, for the want of signs to fit 
them, usually substituted some commonplace re- 
marks of their own before turning in the copy. 

Fingy's leadersliip of the Democracy of the State 
of New York has been greatly appreciated by the 
Republican party, whose majority has steadily in- 
creased since he took charge. Indeed the Repub- 
licans have only themselves to blame that the im- 
migration from the Democratic side has not been 
even greater, for it is no fault of Conners that all 
self-respecting men have not forsaken the party. 
Ihe only reason they have not done so is that they 
have no place to go which offers any decided im- 
provement. The Honorable Timothy Woodruff, 
the Republican State chairman, uses better English 
and wears better clothes, but that is about the only 
advantage he has over Fingy; while, on the other 
hand, Conners has the longer reach, and is so built 
that, when properly trained, he should be able to 
stand a great deal more punishment. 

Woodruff was not without political experience 
when he took charge of the Republican machine. 
For a number of years he had been the highest 
bidder for the position of Lieutenant Governor, 
and, in consicieration of his agreeing to finance the 



19^ Moore's History of llir Stulrs 

Slate c:uiip:iifj;ns, was pcriiiitted to liokl that hon- 
orary office for two or three terms. Providence 
was surely kind to the jieople of New York to pre- 
serve the lives of their (lovernors durinj^ that time, 
and thus avert a public disaster. It was taking a 
chance, wholly unjustified, to separate lim from 
the executive office by only one poor uncertain life. 
Woodruff ami Conners have both always been ex- 
ceedingly popular with the cartoonists, who say it 
is tiie easiest thing in the world to picture them to 
look ridiculous. 

The political history of the city of New York 
is very similar to that of the state, from which it 
is distinfTiiished chiefly by its excessive cost and 
gross incompetency. Greater New York, as it is 
now proudly called, was formed in the year 1898 
by the consolidation of the old town with the vil- 
lage across the river known as Brooklyn, or the 
City of Churches. The latter name is, however, 
more or less misleading, for its buildings are not 
all used as houses of worship, nor do the people all 
devote their time exclusively to religious (observ- 
ance. 'Inhere are two or three saloons, a dime mu- 
seum and a Childs' restaurant located within the 
limits of the borough. Since the consolidation of 
the two municipalities and the construction of a 
number of connecting bridges and tunnels, which, 
with the ferries, make it comparatively easy to get 
from one place to the other, a great many New 
Yorkers have been using Brooklyn as a dormitory. 
Beds are cheaper over there, and one's rest is not 
so apt to be disturbed by nocturnal noises as on the 



New York City and Stale 199 

busy Manhattan side. On account of the fact that 
so many voters sleep and have their washing done 
in Brooklyn, thus establishing that as their legal 
residence, the place of necessity has considerable 
political importance. 

The first municipal election held after the con- 
solidation resulted in a Democratic victory. Rob- 
ert J. Van Wyck was chosen Mayor of the Greater 
City and proceeded at once to divide the spoils 
among his political friends, who had put him in 
office for that purpose. It is indeed to his credit 
that he was disposed to make a division ; for it fre- 
quently happens that men exalted to places of 
great opportunity forget their friends and appro- 
priate to their own use all the perquisites of offi- 
cial life and environment. 

The condition of the city during the Van Wyck 
administration became notoriously bad. Since 
then, however, it has grown to be so much worse 
that in recent years the people look back upon that 
period as one of comparative innocence and purity. 
The police department, under "the best chief the 
city ever had," as the Mayor spoke of the Hon- 
orable Bill Devery, was then considered and used 
solely as a political asset. No attention whatever 
was paid to the details of decency and order. 
Gamblers, second-story men and crooks of every 
description were practically unmolested; but in 
spite of all that, it must be admitted that human 
life was at that time safer in New York than it 
has been since. Devery did draw the line on mur- 
der, and did pursue the slayer with effective dili- 



200 Moore's History of the States 

gence, which has not always been the case since 
his retirement. As a result, manslaughter was not 
so common. But after all is there any real ad- 
vantage in having one's life spared, if one is to be 
robbed of its means of support? Lucky indeed 
is the man to whom food and raiment are allowed 
by the tax-gatherer and grafters in New York! 

When the time came round to elect Van Wyck's 
successor there was a very general demand for the 
overthrow of "the Democratic ring," as it was 
called. Republicans, mugwumps, religionists, so- 
cialists, fanatics and somnambulists all banded to- 
gether in what they designated as "a fusion move- 
ment," for the purpose of delivering the city out of 
the hands of the pirates and restoring it to the 
state of civic righteousness it had never had. In 
order to free the undertaking from political color 
and odor, a candidate was selected for mayor who 
was not only without any important official experi- 
ence, but utterly lacking in political sagacity, the 
Honorable Seth Low, President of Columbia Uni- 
versity. He had, it is true, mayorized the village 
of Brooklyn, delivered a few lectures on political 
economy to the students and contributed two or 
three articles to the magazines on the science of 
government; but beyond that had not touched the 
practical side of the problem, except when he 
crowded his way to the polls on election day. The 
professor was higlily esteemed for his gentility and 
culture, but neither of these admirable qualities 
count for much at the City Hall, unless backed up 



New York City and State 201 

by some rugged knowledge of men as they are 
found in real life. 

The Low campaign was conducted in the name 
of reform, a name that is often used to cover a 
political movement which has neither plan nor 
purpose, except to encompass the defeat of a party 
that has made itself objectionable. Nevertheless 
the aimless ticket was successful, and the keys of 
the city were turned over for a period of two years 
to a lot of amateurs, who could neither locate the 
municipal pain nor prescribe a sensible remedy 
when it was accidentally discovered. It was not 
long, therefore, until the utter helplessness of the 
Mayor and his cabinet compelled them to call for 
help, in doing which they put themselves in the 
hands of a gang of camp-followers, who had de- 
serted the opposition because they had no chance 
to work their shell-game there against the experts 
of their own craft. So the last estate of the city 
was worse than the first. 

Until the end of the term a lot of official misfits 
maladministered the affairs of the city, and were 
not even sufficiently awake to the situation to real- 
ize their woeful failure. The theorists and cranks 
who ran the campaign now insisted upon running 
the administration, and were permitted to have 
an important part in it. There was Dr. Charles 
H. Parkhurst — a very good and useful man in his 
place, but seldom in It — who got the notion into 
his head that, if all the human people could be 
driven out of New York and only bloodless effigies 
be permitted to remain within her walls, the city 



202 Moore' s History of the States 

might indeed be made a very habitable place. He 
accordingly assigned himself a share in the respon- 
sibility, and undertook to bring about the needed 
transformation by playing the role of a detective 
during the week and delivering sensational ser- 
mons from his pulpit on Sundays. Needless to 
say in his gum-shoe slumming tours he made some 
most interesting discoveries; and on each succeed- 
ing day of worship told the story of his unspeak- 
able experiences with such graphic detail that the 
seats in his tabernacle were as eagerly sought as 
the seats in the bleachers at the Polo Grounds 
when Hans Wagner and the other Pittsburg Pi- 
rates are billed to wallop Mugsey McG raw's 
Giants. Since the world began, and even further 
back, — so far as we have any knowledge, — mosc 
men and all women have had a fondness for listen- 
ing to stories of human frailty and folly, even if 
obliged to go to church to hear them. 

By this method Dr. Parkhurst became a thor- 
oughly advertised man, and the unsavory side of 
New York life widely exploited. In the course of 
time he came to be recognized as one of the most 
proficient prospectors for crime in all the country, 
and could be depended upon to locate beds of in- 
iquity and deposits of paying dirt even without the 
aid of surface outcroppings. There is, however, 
some question whether the man who digs up more 
venomous snakes than he can kill is a public bene- 
factor. Exposure without extermination does not 
cripple vice. 

When the administration of Mayor Low came 



New York City and State 203 

to an end, no one was inclined to find fault with 
him for failing to make good; the only thing for 
which he was blamed was that he did not know 
better than to undertake a work so incompatible 
with his gifts and accomplishments. The world 
never quarrels with the painter because he cannot 
make shoes, but it does feel that he has no business 
to spoil a side of leather in demonstrating his lack 
of skill. Naturally the result of this "reform ad- 
ministration" was to make it easy for Tammany 
to regain its power, i he people soon forget that 
they have been robbed, if the act be skillfully per- 
formed, but they have no patience with bungling 
incapacity. 

Since its organization Tammany Hall has been 
the most powerful local political machine in the 
country. It is looked upon as the representative 
Democratic institution of Manhattan, which for 
many years it was; but more recently it cannot be 
said to be so. IVue, it is composed of Democrats, 
but that its influence is exerted in the interest of 
the Democratic party is at least debatable. Tam- 
many has for the last decade been run first, last 
and all the time, for the exclusive use and benefit 
of a few greedy politicians, who use the name of 
Democracy to obtain the favor of the masses, but 
serve the party only when and to the extent that it 
is personally profitable to do so. There is no field 
in all the world in which the opportunities for po- 
litical plunder are comparable to the territory 
bounded by the municipal limits of New York City. 
Therefore, for the purposes of the syndicate in 



204 Moore's History of the States 

control, it is infinitely more important to perpetu- 
ate Tammany's local rule than it is to aid the party 
in carrying the State or nation. There is then no 
hesitation about sacrificing the latter in the interest 
of the Tammany ticket, nor can any Democrat 
have the assistance of the organization in securing 
a local office who does not at least encourage the 
impression that he will be subject to the domination 
of the Hall. 

Tammany's headquarters are located on Four- 
teenth Street, near Tom Sharkey's saloon. Many 
good men and good Democrats belong to it, but 
they do not control it; they are simply contribut- 
ing members. The chief manipulator and benefi- 
ciary of the machine for a number of years has 
been an Irish-American by the name of Charley 
Murphy. This is not related to discredit the 
Irish-Americans, for as a rule they are among our 
squarest and best citizens. Murphy is a man of 
very ordinary personality who has accomplished 
extraordinary results, considering that he has op- 
erated in a civilized community which is presumed 
to stand for law and order. His literary attain- 
ments compare favorably with those of the State 
chairman, Fingy Conners, who has none. Murphy 
is a much more agreeable talker, for he has less 
to say. His habitual silence is, indeed, his most 
pleasing attribute. In the conduct of political 
duties he has the assistance of an able corps of lieu- 
tenants, who in return for their services are per- 
mitted to share the kitty, the winnings of the game 
always going into Charley's deep pocket. Murphy 



New York City and State 205 

sticks to the party for the same reason that the 
leech sticks to its victim — for what can be got out 
of it. 

As the time approached for the election in the 
fall of 1903, Murphy thought it would not be a 
bad idea to have a mayor of his own; for he had 
found it was not only difficult but expensive to hold 
up a city without the assistance of the chief execu- 
tive officer, lie accordingly selected as his candi- 
date a young man whom he had been training some 
months for the job. George B. McClellan was a 
promising lad; he promised to love, honor and 
obey his boss, and forsaking all others cleave only 
unto him till the end of the term. For two years 
he kept that vow as consistently as it is usually 
observed in the twentieth century. Largely be- 
cause he was the son of his father, and had, prior 
to his association with Murphy, been in the habit 
of keeping good company, McClellan went in by a 
flattering majority. Owing to his shortness of 
stature in the early part of his administration the 
people called him "Little Mac." 1 hey afterward 
continued to call him the same, but for a different 
reason. 

In the campaign which followed, fortunately for 
Little Mac, the opposition failed to fuse. There 
was a regular Republican ticket in the field, and a 
third, headed by William Randolph Hearst, the 
last-named making its fight on a municipal owner- 
ship platform, which, the people were told, meant 
that they should own and control all public utili- 
ties, though the real intent was that both the utili- 



2o6 Moore's History of the States 

ties and the people should be owned and controlled 
by Hearst. The appeal was, however, decidedly 
popular and gathered a tremendous following. 
Democrats and Republicans had both been tried, 
and many were of the opinion that the new party 
could do no worse. McClellan finally won out, but 
by a very narrow margin, while William M. Ivans, 
the Republican candidate, ran a poor third. But 
the controversy was not yet ended. 

Hearst demanded a recount of the vote. He 
did not believe the election was fairly conducted, 
an opinion McClellan seemed to share, for he re- 
sisted every attempt to open the ballot boxes and 
get at the facts. Such an attitude is inconceivable 
on the part of a man who has faith in the correct- 
ness of the returns, or who is unwilling to hold an 
office that does not belong to him. This surprising 
stand taken by the mayor led many who had sup- 
ported him to doubt that he had either won or was 
fit to win. The fight was carried into the courts, 
where it dragged its way for three long years; 
meanwhile Hearst posed as a martyr, and was 
spared the humiliation of failing to keep the sense- 
less and insincere promises he had made during 
the campaign. It also enabled him to force his 
nomination for Governor of the State on the Dem- 
ocratic ticket, in opposition to Charles E. Hughes, 
the Republican candidate, who in like manner was 
chosen by the Republican machine because it could 
not help itself. 

Only two years had passed since Shifty Charley 
had placarded "Bothersome Bill" as an anarchist 



New York City; and State 207 

and traitor; in return for which courtesy the pic- 
ture of the Tammany leader, in horizontal stripes, 
was given prominence in the rogues gallery of the 
saffron journals owned by the lanky Californian. 
They had said many things about each other which 
their respective families would not care to have 
incorporated in the epitaphs inscribed on their re- 
spective monuments, yet the two were now joined 
together in the holy bonds of politics and mutual 
adoration. The public was, however, inclined 
more to credit their first published estimates of 
each other than the second: and many Democrats 
felt that even the puritanical Hughes, whose warm- 
est impulse would chase the mercury out of the 
lower end of the tube, might do less harm at Al- 
bany than the newly organized firm of Murphy 
and Hearst, for there was only one of Hughes, but 
two of the others. Hearst was therefore for the 
second time excused from bearing the burden of 
public office. He was not, however, retired from 
public interference; for his generous and respected 
father had left him a liberal portion of this world's 
goods, by means of which he was enabled to pro- 
cure the use of other things he did not Inherit in 
abundant measure. Brains may always be had by 
paying the market price, and it is to the credit of 
William Randolph that he was not niggardly in 
making these purchases. Thus he acquired the 
benefit of an intellectual asset which gave his pub- 
lications an influence that had to be reckoned 
with. 

Governor Hughes misread his constitutional in- 



2o8 Moore's History of the States 

structions and limitations, and mistook himself for 
the State legislature. Instead of devoting his en- 
ergies to executing the laws, which some well- 
informed men conceive to be the duty of an execu- 
tive officer, he was apparently more anxious to ex- 
ecute the members of the law-making body who 
were not inclined to enact or amend the statutes 
in the manner prescribed by the Governor. He 
seemed to have a feeling that he could not earn his 
salary by doing nothing but his own work; there- 
fore, being a conscientious man, he undertook to 
make up the difference by laboring in a field which 
had been assigned to others. It was not long, as 
might have been expected, until the entire effort 
of Mr. Hughes and the leaders of his party was 
consumed in watching and check-mating each other 
to the neglect of the real interests of the State. 

In like manner the second term of George B. 
McClellan as mayor of New York City was 
marked by the absence of harmony and team 
work in the official family, on account of which 
the administration descended into a bitter strug- 
gle — a sort of a battle-royal, each man in the ring 
endeavoring to vindicate himself by knocking out 
the others. 

The public career of McClellan, though pa- 
thetic, was not without its amusing aspects and in- 
cidents. Some humorist suggested that his mag- 
nificent qualities of leadership might find a field 
of activity better suited to his proportions in the 
national arena. George, with his usual modesty, 
acquiesced in the proposal and seriously regarded 



New York City and State 209 

himself as not only a Presidential possibility, but 
as the man of the hour, destined to enter without 
further waiting upon a brilliant career. There 
was of course no harm in the delusion, and it was 
a sweet dream while it lasted. Bigger men than 
he have deceived themselves, and smaller men have 
at times looked longingly toward the Presidency. 

The Democratic regulars in the Brooklyn di- 
vision of the city have for a long while been taking 
their orders from an ungainly specimen by the 
name of Patrick McCarren, whose daring meth- 
ods commend him to his followers and even pro- 
voke the admiration of many who oppose him. 
Pat has in his time been called by many names 
which would not entitle him to a front seat in a 
holiness convention, but no one has ever regarded 
him as a fool or a hypocrite. Indeed he has never 
posed as a statesman or a public benefactor; on the 
contrary, he has claimed to be only what he is, a 
practical politician playing the game for the spoils, 
and nothing else. While he loves the excitement 
of political contention, as every Irishman does, it 
is not for the purpose of gratifying that consum- 
ing passion of his soul that he devotes his time to 
the business, but solely for the benefit of Pat him- 
self. He may have lost some sleep on account of 
these engagements, but never any coin. Such in- 
deed is his grasp on the political situation and his 
ability for getting results that some very poten- 
tial interests have found it wise to engage his serv- 
ices in their behalf both in the city and at Albany, 
and it is rumored that he is not in the habit of 



2IO Moore's History of the States 

bestowing his favors without exacting what he 
deems an adequate compensation. Even so power- 
ful a concern as Standard Oil has not scorned his 
assistance. 

The personal relations between McCarren and 
Murphy have not been uniformly cordial and af- 
fectionate. Indeed they have at times become so 
hostile that each has been tempted to indulge in 
truthful utterance and say some very ugly things 
about the other. Charley's bitterness toward Pat 
is in a great measure due to the latter's persistent 
refusal to permit the gory paw of the Tammany 
tiger to be laid upon the innocent and unsuspecting 
inhabitants of the City of Churches. That is in- 
deed the principal reason for the high esteem in 
which Pat is held by many of the people of that 
borough. They know that Murphy has no chance 
to cross the bridge while the elongated McCarren 
stands on guard, for Pat can fight just as hard as 
Charley, and with a good deal more intelligence. 
Therefore they stand Pat, knowing it is the strong- 
est hand they can play, and they submit to his lead- 
ership for the same reason that one consents to 
vaccination — to avoid something worse. 

There have been other political figures of more 
or less importance in Brooklyn, to be sure, but 
none quite so unique and impressive as Saint Pat- 
rick. Bird Coler has had his legal habitation there 
for many moons, and has managed to keep his 
name before the public with consistent regularity. 
However, Brooklyn should not be blamed for that; 
every community has to put up with some disad- 



Neiv York City and State 211 

vantages. The State of New York has had many 
narrow escapes from disaster, but never had a 
closer call than when Coler ran for Governor. At 
that time he was not so well known, and it was a 
small majority by which he was defeated; yet one 
for which the friends of the State will never cease 
to be truly thankful. 

Not the least celebrated individual among the 
many who dwell in the metropolis is William Trav- 
ers Jerome, who for an unreasonably long period 
has been permitted to draw the salary of the dis- 
trict attorney. He ran as an independent candi- 
date, and went into the office claiming he was un- 
der obligations to no living man. The truthfulness 
of that proclamation seems to be borne out by the 
manner in which he has conducted himself in the 
position. He has never put forth any official exer- 
tion which would indicate that he owed anything 
to the community or to any one interested in it. 
If indeed there was ever any indebtedness to the 
public, it was repudiated, not discharged. He 
made a most spectacular campaign. Running at a 
time when increasing lawlessness seemed to call for 
heroic treatment, he denounced evildoers In his 
own forceful and dramatic style, pledging himself, 
if elected, to follow the trail of crime even to the 
very door of the rich and powerful. That promise 
he literally kept; he followed a number of trails 
to the very threshold of the perpetrators — trails, 
too, so fresh and well marked that It would have 
been difficult to lose them ; but when he reached the 
door he was too polite to enter without a formal 



212 Moore's History of the States 

Invitation. Yes, he followed many a culprit to his 
hiding place, but seldom smoked one out. 

New York City has much in its history of which 
it may be justly proud; but there is nothing which 
more forcefully demonstrates its greatness and 
inherent strength than the fact that the city has 
grown greater, and even better, in many respects, 
in spite of the kind of people who have for gen- 
erations misruled it. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

LINING UP FOR 1908 

The second term of President Roosevelt was 
still young when the public began to speculate as 
to the identity of his successor. Some indeed were 
bold enough to declare that he should succeed him- 
self, insisting that his second term was in fact his 
first, inasmuch as the service he rendered the first 
four years — lacking a few months — was per- 
formed as the substitute for another. Further- 
more, they argued, the unwritten law against a 
third term had no application whatever in this in- 
stance, for Mr. Roosevelt was an exception to 
every rule, and in no way bound by the precedents 
which regulate the conduct of ordinary men. Why 
should this supreme product of the twentieth cen- 
tury be measured and restricted by the standards 
which were applied to ordinary men like George 
Washington? 

But some one, who had the disagreeable habit of 
remembering the past, called attention to the fact 
that Mr. Roosevelt, when last a candidate for the 
Presidency, had most solemnly pledged himself 
against a third term. Could he now disregard that 
promise? Yes; he could; but would it pay? It 

213 



214 Moore's History of the States 

was not the pledge which restrained him from run- 
ning again, as he was now greatly inclined to do, 
but the fear that his broken promise would encom- 
pass his defeat. It often happens that men keep 
their pledges not because they so sincerely respect 
the force of the obligation, but because they fear 
the penalty of a broken faith. Mr. Roosevelt had 
said he would not run again, and he proposed to 
keep his word, for he doubted whether he could 
run successfully in the face of it. 

If, however, he could not succeed himself, he 
proposed to do the next best thing, name the man 
who should. That it was his purpose to surrender 
the throne only to the individual of his personal 
choice he made no attempt to conceal. True this 
was a popular form of government in which the 
people were supposed to choose their own rulers; 
but that principle was adopted many years ago, 
when human intelligence was fairly well distrib- 
uted. But why should the masses now be consulted 
when all matters pertaining to their welfare might 
readily be determined for them by one of bound- 
less wisdom? Leave it to him. There were some 
short-sighted persons, of course, who protested 
against the people executing an irrevocable power 
of attorney authorizing Mr. Roosevelt to exercise 
all the political rights and privileges belonging to 
them, but they were promptly given to understand 
their opinions were not in demand, and were in- 
formed that the next President had already been 
selected for them. 

It was the good fortune of one William Howard 



Lining Up for igo8 215 

Taft to have gained the favor of the President and 
to be designated as his pohtical residuary legatee. 
In some accidental manner Mr. Roosevelt's atten- 
tion had been directed to Willie when the latter — 
a mere lad weighing only about 375 pounds — was 
playing on the streets of Cincinnati, unconscious of 
the glory that awaited him when he grew up. There 
was something about the urchin that appealed to 
the observing President. He turned to Loeb and 
said, "You know I've got a hunch there's some- 
thing in that boy?" 

Willie, who overheard the remark, smiled ap- 
provingly, for he had just finished his dinner. 

It may be well to note in passing that Loeb was 
the man who made all Roosevelt's mistakes. Some- 
body had to make them, so why not Loeb? 

"Come, my boy, how would you like to go with 
me and let me make a man of you?" inquired the 
President. 

"Bully," replied the frail and timid child. 

"Then run along," said Mr. Roosevelt, "wash 
your hands and face, and I'll take you to Washing- 
ton. If you'll stick to me and do as you are told, 
some day I'll make you President of the United 
States." 

Willie was greatly pleased with these few kind 
words of the gracious stranger and wisely lost no 
time in doing his bidding. He stuck to his discov- 
erer as he was told to do, and the President, be it 
said to his credit, stuck to Willie and made a great 
ruler of him. 

After some months of private tutorage in the art 



2i6 Moore's History of the States 

of controlling the common people, Bill, as he began 
to be called at the Cabinet meetings and on the golf 
links, was told that he was about to be given a try- 
out in one of the minor leagues. His political God- 
father and instructor had determined to send him 
to the Philippines, where, as Governor General, 
he might practice to his heart's content on the de- 
fenseless people of those far-off islands. A better 
training ground could nowhere be found, for these 
subdued Filipinos had never known what it is to 
be free and were therefore fit subjects for political 
experiments; nor were they in a position to ques- 
tion the authority of their ruler, whose word was 
the supreme law of the land, backed up by the 
American flag and Uncle Sam's bayonets. 

Governor General Taft developed considerable 
imperial talent while thus engaged. The familiar- 
ity he acquired with military affairs during the time 
he was in charge of our musket government in the 
Orient suggested to the President the propriety of 
appointing him as Secretary of War. He was ac- 
cordingly recalled and placed in charge of that 
important folio. 

While in charge of the War Department of the 
United States Government the Secretary was given 
still further exercise helpful in his course of train- 
ing for the presidency. He was made boss of the 
canal diggers at Panama. 

The French Government had many years prior 
to that time conceived the idea of constructing a 
ship canal across that narrow strip of land by 
which North and South America are tied together. 



Lining Up for igo8 217 

The necessary franchise had been procured and a 
vast deal of money spent to little or no purpose. 
The failure to procure results commensurate with 
the tremendous cost of the project had been the 
occasion of much scandalous and acrimonious criti- 
cism. More mud was thrown at the officials in 
charge of the work than was shoveled from the 
ditch. Finally when the resources and patience of 
the French people were exhausted they began to 
cast about for some one upon whom they might un- 
load the ill-fated enterprise. Negotiations were 
entered into with the United States, which ulti- 
mately resulted in the purchase by the latter of the 
canal franchise, with all the appurtenances there- 
unto belonging, including a number of rusty snow- 
plows and sundry well-developed scandals. 

The sum paid for this job-lot of goods and 
chattels, rights and privileges, encumbrances and 
regrets, was $40,000,000. At any rate that Is the 
sum which was appropriated to consummate the 
deal made and reported by the representatives of 
the government. A small part of It was used of 
course in the payment of incidental and accidental 
expenses. Certain American newspapers, that were 
over-anxious to supply their readers with sensa- 
tional matter, were bold and reckless enough to 
charge that the entire amount of the consideration 
did not reach the goal for which it started — a most 
absurd accusation. For the circulation of this 
baseless charge they were promptly rebuked by the 
act of a Federal grand jury. 

The publication of defamatory editorials Is not 



21 8 Moore's History of the States 

only unworthy, but is exceedingly unprofitable 
when it is held, as in the cases cited, that a jury 
of the writer's peers can be found only in the city 
of Washington. 

We believe absolutely in the freedom of the 
press; also in the freedom of the author, and to 
have the latter it is essential to keep out of jail. 
Therefore to enjoy the fullest freedom one must 
write with becoming discretion. 

William Nelson Cromwell did charge a fee for 
his services, as every lawyer has a right to do, but 
it was merely nominal. A million or two dollars 
for a couple of weeks' work is not unreasonable, 
when it is considered that out of that amount he 
paid the fee of the notary who took the acknowl- 
edgment of the deed. 

rhe importance of the Panama Canal had for a 
long while been apparent even to the most casual 
observer, affording, as it will when finished, direct 
water transportation from ocean to ocean, without 
rounding the Horn, as vessels are now obliged to 
do. But with the acquisition of the Philippines by 
the United States, the early completion of the canal 
became imperative. In the event, for Instance, of 
Japan's undertaking to deprive us of those distant 
burdens, the opening of the short Panama route 
might enable some of our ships to get back to a 
place of safety on the Atlantic coast before they 
could be caught, which saving we could scarcely 
hope to effect without a doorway of escape through 
the Isthmus. True, it is an expensive bit of work, 



Lining Up for igo8 219 

but if we must go where we have no business the 
course of retreat should be kept open at any cost. 

It was first proposed to construct the canal by 
private contract, awarding the work to the lowest 
bidder. Indeed that course was pursued until bids 
were actually received and opened; then it ap- 
peared that the lowest responsible applicants did 
not happen to be the parties into whose laps the 
administration desired the plums to fall. Promptly 
it occurred to those in authority that it would after 
all be better for Uncle Sam to do his own digging. 
The supervision of the work would afford Mr. 
Taft a splendid opportunity to get regular and in- 
structive exercise, which was indeed the most im- 
portant consideration. The portly Secretary was 
accordingly instructed to report for duty and dem- 
onstrate what he could do on the job. He there- 
upon boarded two sea-worthy war vessels and at 
high tide floated out into the deep water of the At- 
lantic bound for Panama. 

Upon the arrival of this large party at the Isth- 
mus a tour of inspection was immediately begun. 
It was, however, shortly discovered that in order 
to allow the Secretary to pass along the entire 
course of the work it was necessary to first widen 
the Culebra cut. The inspection of that portion of 
the canal was therefore deferred until his second 
visit. Thereafter very satisfactory progress was 
made in the construction, considering the many 
serious obstacles which had to be met and over- 
come. To expedite the building of the canal it 
was found necessary not only to throw over the 



2 20 Moore's History of the States 

dirt, but also to overthrow the government of the 
country through which the channel was being cut. 
It is understood, of course, that no one acting for 
or in behalf of the United States had anything 
whatever to do with fomenting the periodical revo- 
lutions which occurred in the region of the opera- 
tions. Earthquakes, volcanoes and revolutions are 
indigenous to that tropical section of the globe; it 
just happened by a strange and fortunate coinci- 
dence that these political upheavals ripened at a 
time when they were most helpful, and no one was 
to blame for their maturing at that particular 
period. 

Early in the year 1908 Mr. Taft found he could 
not continue to give his undivided attention to the 
work of building the canal; he was reminded that 
he had some fence building of his own to look after 
in the States. While his nomination for the Presi- 
dency for the term beginning in March, 1909, 
seemed practically assured, Mr. Roosevelt thought 
it prudent to give some heed to the formalities ex- 
pected of those who are shortly to be inducted into 
high office. 1 here was more or less opposition to 
be quelled, and a few vainly ambitious individuals 
to be removed from the royal pathway. In spite 
of the explicit instructions that had been issued 
from the White House, certain visionary and ill- 
advised persons dared hope and even suggest that 
their claims to the Presidency should be given con- 
sideration. 

There was Uncle Joe Cannon, alias the Illinois 
Thunderbolt, lightweight political champion of the 



Lining Up for igo8 221 

Middle West, into whose waiting ear some one had 
whispered the story of his fitness for the highest 
office in the gift of the people, and in his credulous 
soul he actually believed it. Had he not for years 
lorded it over the House of Representatives in a 
manner that left no doubt as to his kingly quali- 
ties? Had he ever failed to subdue quickly and 
effectually the recalcitrant members of that tur- 
bulent body by the heroic application of his own 
drastic rules? Was there any reason then why 
he should not be trusted to exercise domination 
over all the people dwelling in the United States 
and in their dependencies in the uttermost parts of 
the earth? Yes, one very forceful reason and one 
that could not be overcome — Theodore Roose- 
velt. His decree had gone forth that Uncle Joe 
was unfit, and the people were in harmonious ac- 
cord with that decision. Therefore Uncle Joe, 
the dignified and mild-mannered man of chaste 
and elegant utterance; the man of rambling speech 
and straggling beard, the man of strong prejudice 
and strong cigars, was doomed to disappointment. 
Cannon was fired, and the only consolation granted 
him was the complimentary vote of his own State, 
which it was willing to give so long as there was 
no possibility of his nomination. 

A more troublesome source of opposition to the 
candidacy of Mr. Taft developed in his own State, 
Ohio. Joseph Benson Foraker was not always 
able to procure for himself the prizes he coveted, 
but there was never a time in his long and eventful 
public career when he could not fill the heart of his 



22 2 Moore's History of the States 

opponent with fear and misgiving. For many 
years he had been a conspicuous figure in the affairs 
of the nation, and he was conceded by all to possess 
splendid ability, unfailing courage and many of 
the qualities of a statesman. There could be no 
doubt as to his party regularity, for he was regu- 
lar to a fault, and had always been an advocate 
of Republicanism in its most pronounced and viru- 
lent form. Indeed, his partisanship was ofttimes 
not only aggressive, but likewise offensive. He 
had been the Governor of his State and had for a 
long while creditably represented his people in 
the Senate of the United States. Foraker was one 
of the foremost constitutional lawyers of his day; 
a man of broad culture and attractive personality. 
But with all he had to commend him to the national 
convention, he lacked one thing — lacking which his 
Presidential aspirations in the year 1908 muse 
come to naught; he had failed to avow his faith 
in the omnipotence and infallibility of Theodore 
Roosevelt. Yea, more; he had even challenged 
the wisdom of certain official acts of the President, 
and in some instances had even gone so far as to 
question the authority of that great ruler, and in 
his blind zeal had insisted that the Constitution 
should be observed even by the Chief Magistrate. 
No wonder he was marked for slaughter! What 
could he expect but political excommunication? 

The most grievous offense of the Senator at this 
particular time was his plain-spoken protest 
against the action of the President in discharging 
from service in the regular army an entire negro 



Lining Up for igo8 223 

battalion, certain members of which had been 
guilty of gross misconduct. It appears that this 
body of sable soldiers was encamped near the town 
of Brownsville, Texas. Pay-day came round and 
some of these dusky warriors proceeded to invest 
their newly acquired wealth in that exhilarating 
beverage concocted of wood alcohol and tobacco 
juice, and labeled under the pure food law as suit- 
able only for the extermination of carnivorous 
wild beasts, for Indians on the war-path and negro 
picnics. When these soldiers had partaken boun- 
teously of this rejuvenating fluid, an unwonted 
courage began to possess them; whereupon they 
proceeded to enter the town of Brownsville and 
discharge their muskets in the presence of the 
white inhabitants with a recklessness never dis- 
played by any sane and sober coon in a Texas 
community. 

The assault was made in the night time, when 
there was such marked similarity between the color 
effect of the atmosphere and the complexion of the 
uniformed miscreants that it was utterly impos- 
sible to identify the guilty parties; for if all coons 
look alike when they may be seen, much more do 
they resemble when invisible. Inasmuch, there- 
fore, as there was no Avay of separating the black 
sheep from the black goats, the President dis- 
charged the entire battalion, visiting his punish- 
ment on the guilty and innocent alike. 

Senator Foraker took the position that under 
the Constitution, as amended and adjusted to the 
wants of the negro by Mr. Roosevelt's party, these 



2 24 Moore's History of the States 

colored troops were citizens of the United States, 
regularly enlisted into the service; and while each 
and every one was subject to discharge for cause, 
it was not the privilege of the President to penalize 
the whole body because some of them had com- 
mitted an offense. With the consistency and logic 
of that declaration we must confess it is difficult to 
find fault. The trouble, however, is far back of 
the discharge of this battalion. No negro should 
ever be discharged from the army, for the very 
good reason that he should never be permitted to 
enter it. But when constitutional privileges are 
given him in consideration of his vote it is hardly 
proper for the beneficiary of that vote to disregard 
his own obligation. No Caucasian regrets the 
loss of the negro soldiers in question; but they 
should be lost in battle or in some other constitu- 
tional manner, and the door of their admission to 
the army forever closed by the unamending of the 
over-amended Constitution. It was never intended 
that the blood of the white and black races should 
commingle either on or off the field of battle, nor 
can we ever have a perfectly disciplined army, with 
cohesive force and the highest esprit de corps, com- 
posed of two races so widely differing. Battle- 
ships are painted black when they go out to meet 
the enemy on the high seas in order to make it 
more difficult to train upon them the opposing 
guns. Possibly the negro may be a less satisfac- 
tory target on the field, but it should not be for- 
gotten he is utterly unable to surprise the enemy 
by a leeward approach. 



Lining Up for igo8 225 

It has, indeed, been intimated there was a rea- 
son for the action of Mr. Roosevelt which is not 
apparent on the face of the record. He and his 
political protege had agreed that the time was at 
hand to invade the South and destroy its solidity. 
They knew that while the true Southerner is the 
best friend the negro has ever had, at the same 
time he insists, as he ever will, upon white suprem- 
acy. The President also knew that he had pre- 
viously lost some standing with the white people in 
the South when on a certain occasion he had mani- 
fested a well-developed case of color-blindness 
when selecting a dinner guest. The South had no 
objection to Mr. Roosevelt's eating with Booker 
Washington, or sleeping with him, if he so desired, 
but they were unwilling that their social blending 
should be construed as establishing a precedent, 
and so expressed themselves without apology or 
equivocation. Here seemed to be a splendid op- 
portunity to deliver himself from the bad odor in 
which he had become involved by his injudicious 
selection of a table-mate. Surely the sacrifice of 
so large a number of colored troops would atone 
for his one infraction of an unwritten social law! 
But Foraker was unwilling that a battalion should 
be made the price of a dinner for Booker Wash- 
ington. 

The outcome of it all was that the President 
determined to sink the craft of the rebellious Sen- 
ator and remove him forever from the political 



226 Moore's History of the States 

seas. The opportunity to accomplish this pur- 
pose was not long coming. Some stolen corre- 
spondence was given wide publicity through the 
columns of certain newspapers published by one 
William Randolph Hearst. These letters dis- 
closed the fact that the Standard Oil Company, 
which at that time was In bad repute, had thought 
so well of the legal ability of Senator Foraker that 
it actually employed him to render an opinion con- 
cerning some vexed problem, for which service 
he compensated himself by accepting a large nug- 
get of that wicked company's filthy lucre. Shame 
on him ! Is it to be wondered at that Mr. Taft re- 
fused to appear on the same platform with him 
during the campaign? Who would associate with 
him while his pockets were weighted with that un- 
holy coin? Thus Foraker's Presidential boom 
was pushed over the well-greased toboggan of 
Standard Oil and quickly descended Into that high- 
walled bourn from which no political ambition 
returns. 

There were yet others who clamored for recog- 
nition in the Presidential contest, but all to no pur- 
pose. Knox, the dapper little Pennsylvanian; 
Root, the accomplished guardian of trusts and mo- 
nopolies; Hughes, the bearded puritan and blue 
law advocate, and LaFollette, the loquacious and 
plausible professional reformer from the West, 
were all groomed for the race and permitted to 
take part In the preliminary parade, then all alike 



Lining Up for igo8 ii~j 

were disqualified by the one man who had taken it 
on himself to act as handicapper, starter and judge, 
with no assistance and no right of appeal, viz., 
Theodore Roosevelt. 



CHAPTER XXV 

THE TAFT-BRYAN CAMPAIGN 

We have already seen how Mr. Taft was really 
nominated for the Presidency many moons in ad- 
vance of the assembling of the convention which 
was supposed to be charged with the duty of se- 
lecting a ticket. That body was called together 
in the usual manner, just as if it were intended to 
deliberate and reach its own conclusions, but was 
very distinctly given to understand that the only 
purpose for which it was created was ro ratify 
the choice of a candidate already made, and to 
give formal assent to a platform constructed for 
campaign purposes. 

As is always the case, a few of the States were 
permitted to send delegations made up of the per- 
sonal friends of certain favorite sons, to whom a 
perfunctory sort of local support had in decency 
to be given; but in the main the gathering was 
composed of postmasters, internal revenue col- 
lectors and other Federal officeholders, to whom 
were added a few well-to-do sympathizers, whose 
coin it was thought might later be used to good 
advantage. 

Mr. Roosevelt was violently opposed to any 

228 



The Taft-Bryan Campaign 229 

exhibition of partisanship by those who were in 
the service of the Federal Government, and had 
repeatedly announced his purpose to dismiss any 
who might be found making any such unseemly dis- 
play. That there might be no mistake about his 
attitude he went further and defined the crime of 
"offensive partisanship" as consisting in giving 
direct or indirect aid or comfort to any candidate 
for office who had not procured a permit from the 
President to solicit public favor. On the other hand, 
their patriotic devotion to the country's welfare 
was measured by the fervency with which they 
gave support to the men of his choice. It is not 
difficult therefore to understand why from early 
spring until the close of the polls in November the 
duties of most Federal officers were performed by 
deputies and clerks, while their chiefs were en- 
gaged in saving the country in the manner pre- 
scribed by the highest authority. 

This ratification meeting, alias Republican Na- 
tional Convention, was held in Chicago in the 
month of June, where, after the usual exchange 
of preliminary greetings and insincere felicitations, 
the programme which had been carefully prepared 
at the White House was carried out with minute 
exactness. This provided first of all for the open- 
ing speech of the temporary chairman, whose duty 
it was to extend congratulations, briefly recite the 
glorious history of the party and prophesy even 
better things in the future; then at a given signal 
he was to pause for a few seconds, assume a Doc- 
tor Munyon pose, anci with an air of supreme tri- 



230 Moore's History of the States 

umph reverently utter the name of Theodore 
Roosevelt. This, of course, was to be immediately 
followed by prearranged spontaneous cheering 
lasting an hour and seventy-six minutes. 

Next came the appointment of the regular com- 
mittees and another burst of applause, which it 
was planned should begin this time in another part 
of the hall. The permanent chairman was then 
conducted to the platform and given the oppor- 
tunity to deliver his carefully edited eulogy on the 
occupant of the White House, which was punctu- 
ated at regular intervals by paroxysms of vocal 
admiration for His Imperial Majesty, concluding 
with one prolonged volcanic eruption of sur- 
charged praise and superheated admiration for the 
matchless name and wondrous works of the strenu- 
ous cosmopolite, for whose glory and exaltation 
the body of free and untrammeled citizens had 
been called together. 

Meanwhile the long-distance phone between 
Chicago and the Capital City was doing constant 
service, transmitting orders from one end of the 
line and reporting results from the other. And 
yet there are some who still profess to believe that 
the government of the United States is a govern- 
ment of the people, not realizing apparently that 
for many long years it has been neither of, by, nor 
for them. 

It need scarcely be stated that the convention 
was permitted to proclaim the ticket as the fruit 
of its own effort, in order to commit the delegates 
and the people they were supposed to represent 



The Taft-Bryan Campaign 231 

to its support. And why should they not look 
upon it as their own creation? William Howard 
Taft was the choice of the delegates, for a certain 
deeply interested and exceedingly active individ- 
ual had taken pains to see that very few who had 
any other choice were permitted to have part in 
the proceedings. 

The adoption of a platform was an easy task, 
for that, too, had been carefully prepared in ad- 
vance. In the main it was but another reaffirma- 
tion of the same declarations which have been 
invariably approved by every Republican conven- 
tion which has been held since the Civil War. Of 
course there were a few clauses added bringing it 
down to date, by taking credit to the party for all 
the good that had come to the American people 
since the last prior claim had been made, and like- 
wise charging the Democrats with such ills as had 
befallen the land within the same period. There 
was also a special paragraph superlatively lauda- 
tory of the particular individual to whose wisdom, 
courage and tireless endeavor all these benefac- 
tions were ascribed. It need not be mentioned at 
whose direction that clause was inserted. 

It cannot be denied that the Republican party 
has always excelled in platform building. It not 
only omits nothing which might in any way be 
helpful to the party, but makes its avowals in the 
most telling style. They read well, and yet their 
pledges are so phrased as to be susceptible of any 
construction that may afterward appear to be nec- 
essary, and at the same time utterly incapable of 



232 Moore's History of the States 

enforcement in an action for specific performance, 
on account of their indefiniteness. Mark the ma- 
jestic stride of the preamble to that 1908 platform. 
It reads like the solemn beginning of a stately 
creed or fervent prayer. "Once more the Repub- 
lican party, in National Convention assembled, 
submits its cause to the people. This great his- 
toric organization that destroyed slavery, pre- 
served the Union, restored credit, expanded the 
national domain, established a sound financial sys- 
tem, developed the industries and resources of 
the country and gave the nation her seat of honor 
in the councils of the world, now meets the new 
problems of government with the same courage 
and capacity with which it solved the old." 

Would it be possible to lay claim to more in a 
single sentence, broken only by commas ? We doubt 
if the man who framed that clause could read it 
and keep his face straight while in the act. 

One cannot fail to admire the adroitness with 
which the platform briefly touches and dismisses 
a very delicate subject. It will be remembered that 
in the early fall of 1907 the country was visited 
by a very decided business depression, which under 
a Democratic administration would have been ac- 
curately designated as a financial panic. It had not 
concluded its engagement when the Chicago con- 
vention was held. There seemed to be no disposi- 
tion to mention at whose invitation this unwelcome 
guest had put in an appearance, nor who was keep- 
ing house while it remained; yet something had to 
be said to avoid the appearance of dodging. So 



The Taft-Bryan Campaign 233 

with the customary air of perfect Innocence and 
boundless confidence it was simply written: "We 
hail with confidence the signs now manifest of a 
complete restoration of business prosperity." 

And the reader was left to infer that the people 
who were doing the hailing had, at their own great 
peril, reclaimed a straying prosperity which had 
been wantonly abducted. 

That panic was in many respects a novel one; 
so different indeed, from the ordinary type, that 
the reader may be interested in giving it more at- 
tention than was accorded by the men who drafted 
the platform. 

From the beginning of the reign of Theodore 
I until the coming of that untimely reactionof 1907, 
the people of the United States had enjoyed a won- 
derful degree of material prosperity. There was 
nothing surprising about their enjoying It, to be 
sure, for who does not when he has the chance? 
The noteworthy fact was that they actually had it 
to enjoy. At any rate the condition of unusual 
abundance continued for a number of years, and 
in the main was due directly to the wisdom of the 
administration in securing bounteous harvests, 
through the eflicient work of the weather bureau. 
The distribution of sunshine and showers was 
made with such scientific accuracy as to provide 
every locality with a judicious supply of heat and 
moisture, whereby field and forest and stream 
were made to yield their products In astounding 
measure, a result which had never before been 
achieved. There was more corn gathered from an 



234 Moore's History of the States 

acre of ground, more fruit from a tree, more fish 
from a net and more fleece from a confiding lamb 
than had ever been dreamed of in days gone by. 

In the very midst of all the reckless abandon 
that comes to a people with plenty and to spare, a 
sudden and most startling change tookplace. Hard 
times walked right in, without knocking at the door 
or waiting to be announced, and settled down as 
if to pay a protracted visit. The coming was so 
unexpected that other guests had no opportunity 
to avoid a meeting. As a result plenty and want, 
who had never been on good terms, were for the 
time quartered under the same roof and com- 
pelled to share the same bed. Mr. Roosevelt had 
already performed many wonderful feats, but it 
remained for him to do what had never before 
been accomplished, hitch Prosperity and Panic 
in double harness and drive them together. 

It was indeed a most unusual spectacle. There 
had never been a time when the country was better 
supplied, or had less access to the supply. Of 
money there was the greatest plenty, but no one 
could get it. The banks maintained a strict quar- 
antine at every exit, leaving open only the ports 
of entry. The receiving window kept right on 
doing business, but the paying teller was told to 
take a vacation. So great indeed became the de- 
positor's eagerness to look his own dollar in the 
face and hold it once again In his affectionate palm, 
that the doors of many banks were closed early to 
avoid the rush. 

Every other good thing was just like money. 



The Taft-Bryan Campaign 235 

plentiful but hard to get. There was no shortage 
of bread or meat, but the cupboard was locked. 
Cows were giving as much milk and hens giving 
as many eggs as ever before, yet the Hungry Club 
had the longest waiting list in its history, and the 
bread line had to be double-tracked to take care 
of the empties. 

While in many respects most painful, the situa- 
tion was not without its redeeming features. Sus- 
pended payment was to some the occasion of no 
little inconvenience and hardship, it is true, but to 
a great number it proved a blessing. The merest 
pittance tied up in a bank whose doors are closed 
will go much further with one's creditors than a 
very large amount in the pocket. A real dollar 
in actual possession can be handed out but once in 
paying debts, but when kept in close confinement by 
a bank failure the story of its unfair imprisonment 
may be handed out many times as an excuse for 
not paying them. A credit balance of two dollars 
and ninety-eight cents with the Knickerbocker 
Trust Company, while that institution was in dry- 
dock, was for all practical purposes as good as an 
unlimited letter of credit. "I kept my account 
with the Knickerbocker, and every cent I have in 
the world is tied up," was the familiar story that 
greeted the bill-collector and that laid the founda- 
tion for negotiating many a loan. A large per 
cent, of the people were never so well off as when 
they were thus deprived of the use of their money. 
Their real trouble began when the banks resumed 
payment and robbed them of their excuses. 



236 Moore's History of the States 

Needless to say, this state of suspended com- 
mercial animation was particularly embarrassing 
to the pending administration, which was so soon 
thereafter obliged to "submit its cause to the peo- 
ple." The panic had struck the country only 
twelve months in advance of a general election — 
a short period within which to explain it or forget 
it. It was extremely important, therefore, to fix 
the blame where it would do the least harm to Mr. 
Roosevelt or his man Friday. 

The Wall Street gang, whose plans for pillage 
had frequently been interrupted by the vagaries of 
the impulsive President, charged the whole trouble 
to the White House. "What could one expect but 
disaster," they inquired, "when all the functions 
of the government are perverted and used in a wild 
crusade against the important business interests of 
the country?" But the stalwart Chief hurled back 
the charge and assailed his accusers with his accus- 
tomed vigor, declaring that the unscrupulous 
money-changers whom he had been calling to ac- 
count had deliberately planned to ditch the pros- 
perity train for the sole purpose of discounting the 
administration and breaking the strangle hold It 
had on public confidence. And thus responsibility 
was shifted from one to another, without fixing 
its resting place. 

To a certain extent each accuser was right. 
Roosevelt had gone gunning for "malefactors of 
great wealth," and, not being perfectly sure as to 
their identity, he had taken aim at everything in 
sight. Rather than let the thief, who had sought 



The Taft-Bryan Campaign 237 

refuge in the crowd, escape, he trained his guns 
on the multitude and crippled every one in range. 
That it is better to destroy ninety and nine inno- 
cent corporations rather than permit a single guil- 
ty one escape, was his theory and practice. It is 
not strange, then, that men ceased their activities 
until they could have some assurance that business 
success would not be taken as conclusive proof of 
criminal methods. There was indeed little encour- 
agement for any one to engage in an enterprise 
which gave promise of good results, unless he hap- 
pened to be included in the list of favorites against 
whom it was understood no law would be invoked; 
for the same treatment was not accorded to all. 
There, for instance, was President Ripley, of the 
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, who was 
denounced and given a card of admission into the 
Ananias Club because he disclaimed any personal 
knowledge of the rebating which it was alleged his 
road had been practicing; but Paul Morton, an- 
other officer of the same company, who must have 
known what was going on, if he gave any attention 
to the duties of the position he filled, was given an 
immunity bath, presented with a triple-plated halo 
and invited to take a seat in the Cabinet. Moral : 
It pays to stand in. 

And there was also some truth in the statement 
that Wall Street was quite ready to join in any 
attempt to curtail the power of the President. The 
money-lenders could and doubtless did help to 
bring on the panic, because they could in that man- 
ner cripple the administration and at the same time 



238 Moore's History of the States 

materially profit by advancing the rate of interest. 

Others there were who ascribed the loss of con- 
fidence to the fear the public had that if Mr. Bryan 
kept on running he might some day be elected. We 
are not inclined, however, to give much weight to 
this theory, for the people had already become so 
accustomed to his quadrennial candidacy that his 
attempts to land the Presidency had long since 
ceased to be an occasion for alarm. Give it time, 
and the world will get used to anything, even to 
Bryan. 

The press undertook to cure the disordered body 
politic by a resort to faith cure. When the election 
drew near a majority of the newspapers denied 
that there was, or ever had been, any panic; no 
one could therefore be blamed for creating what 
never existed. That settled it. 

While it is unimportant, it may be here stated 
that Mr. Taft was not the only candidate in the 
field, though the returns from some localities would 
indicate that the people were laboring under that 
impression. After the second defeat of Mr. Bryan, 
it was thought he had made his last race for the 
Presidency, but in that he was misjudged. In the 
year 1906 he left the United States and remained 
abroad for twelve months or more, during which 
time he waxed in public favor and regained many 
of his estranged followers. If he had deferred his 
return until after the election, he might have won; 
but unfortunately he came back in the year 1907 
and spent the next few months making speeches 
and mistakes. It is hard, indeed, to make one 



The Tafl-Bryan Campaign 239 

without the other. Upon his arrival from abroad 
a most remarkable reception was accorded him at 
Madison Square Garden in New York City. There 
was a great outpouring of the Democratic hosts, 
who were eager to ascertain whether he had gained 
any more wisdom by his sojourn among the sages 
of the Orient than he had absorbed while hving 
among the sage on the plains of Nebraska. The 
great amphitheater could not hold the people 
who walked in before he began to speak, nor 
could anything hold the disappointed ones who 
walked out before he was through. He talked 
well, as he always does, but laid a heavy and 
wholly unnecessary burden on his friends, who 
were thereafter called upon to explain his doctrine 
of public ownership. As a matter of fact all poli- 
ticians believe in that doctrine when construed to 
mean that they shall own the public. 

When however the time came round to put a 
Democratic ticket in the field, in spite of all the 
opposition he had diligently cultivated, Mr. Bryan 
was the only piece of timber in sight, and there 
was nothing to do but to try him again. Democ- 
racy was badly rent by internal quarrels and infer- 
nal leaders; so much so that there seemed to be 
little hope of winning the fight. If then some one 
had to be defeated, why not the one man in the 
party who was thoroughly accustomed to it? 
Therefore for the third time in little more than 
half a generation the great uncommoner was 
pressed into service, he doing most of the pressing. 



240 Moore's History of the States 

The Republican party was pleased at the nomina- 
tion. 

The campaign had not progressed far when it 
became apparent there was but one real issue: the 
endorsement or repudiation of Theodore Roose- 
velt. And it was soon made just as plain that no 
candidate could at that time take the risk of repu- 
diation. The President had somehow managed 
to circulate the belief that he was about the only 
living man upon whose friendship the poor and 
toiling masses could safely depend, and both can- 
didates were wise enough to know that the voters 
who work for a living, and seldom get it, greatly 
outnumber those who always have it without a 
struggle: it was therefore a question which of 
them could give the best imitation of the man of 
the hour. Taft lost no opportunity to proclaim his 
faith in the President and his purpose to follow 
his teachings. Bryan went even further, and de- 
clared that in fact Roosevelt had been following 
him for a number of years; that the popular reme- 
dies used by the latter were just what he, Bryan, 
had prescribed long before the acting doctor had 
begun to practice. Nor was that claim wholly 
unfounded. 

By far the greater number of those who sup- 
ported Mr. Taft did so because they believed he 
meant just what he said when he promised to carry 
out the policies of the President. Another class 
insisted he would continue the policies of the ad- 
ministration, but not the methods; in other words, 
he would do the same thing, but do it differently, 



The Taft-Bryan Campaign 241 

If any one knows what that means. There was still 
a different element, who, mistaking a hope for a 
belief, expressed the opinion that the candidate 
was simply playing good politics, and had no in- 
tention of using anybody's second-hand policies, 
but would surely make his own when the proper 
time arrived. It was a hard matter, of course, to 
beat a man to whom a part of the voters were will- 
ing to give their support because they had confi- 
dence in him, while many others would vote for 
him because they did not believe a word he said, 
neither requiring him to tell them In advance which 
was guessing right. 

There was a good deal of talk during the cam- 
paign about the sources from which financial as- 
sistance was being received to carry on the contest. 
The candidate and National Committee of the 
Democratic party boldly challenged the Repub- 
licans to a show-down. They could afford to do It, 
for they were getting no contributions big enough 
to create suspicion. The chance of winning did not 
justify placing any money. Of course there was 
an occasional gift of fifty cents or a dollar, which 
was made just as a man will once In a while put up 
the price of a round of drinks on a fifty-to-one shot 
for a gamble. But for some reason which was not 
made apparent the Republican party was unwilling 
to publish a list of the Individuals who were sub- 
scribing for stock In their company. They prom- 
ised they would do so when the election was over, 
and no one could any longer have Interest In know- 
ing the truth. They could not be blamed for tak- 



242 Moore's History of the States 

ing that position, for when there is any doubt 
about one's innocence it is much safer to hear the 
evidence after the verdict has been rendered. 

As might have been expected, Brother Charley 
made the most hberal donation to the expense ac- 
count of Candidate Taft. And why should he not 
have done so? It is worth a good round sum to 
have a member of the family in the White House. 
To be pointed out as the brother of the President 
is no mean distinction and adds greatly to one's 
popularity. Besides, it is never a bad investment 
to advance financial assistance to a winner. There 
are many little ways to get it back. No better 
method indeed can be devised to test the patriotism 
of a people than to pass the campaign collection 
plate in the interest of a party whose all-absorbing 
purpose is to save the country at any cost. In this 
particular instance many unselfish souls came to the 
assistance of Mr. Taft, though they could ill afford 
it. Men like Carnegie and Morgan, and certain 
charitable institutions like the sugar and steel 
trusts, gave freely out of the meager savings they 
had managed to accumulate by tireless energy and 
rigid self-denial; but they had faith that even a 
few crumbs cast upon the waters would swell up 
and become great loaves after many days. John 
D. Rockefeller, whose whole life had been lived 
in strict conformity to his favorite text of Scrip- 
ture, "In the morning sow thy seed and in the even- 
ing withhold not thine hand," and who had always 
played his hand to the limit, was also moved by a 
benevolent impulse to proffer a few pennies to 



The Taft-Bryan Campaign 243 

the righteous cause; but his offer was spurned and 
he excluded from the feast, though his lamp 
was filled with oil, because it was feared his pres- 
ence might prevent the attendance of others to 
whom the odor of gasoline was offensive. 

Each of the two great parties was handicapped 
in the race by the endorsement of certain conspicu- 
ous individuals whose opposition would have been 
far more helpful than their open friendship. On 
the Democratic side were Thomas F. Ryan and 
August Belmont, whose contributions could not 
buy back half the votes they estranged from the 
party. Then there were others, like Arkansas Jeff 
Davis and Mississippi Vardeman, who gave no 
money, but insisted upon speaking for the ticket, 
when they might have rendered much more effi- 
cient service by speaking against it. This however 
was fairly well offset by the blundering efforts of 
Nick Longworth, who took the stump for Mr. 
Taft. This young man, whose head was meagerly 
thatched and modestly furnished, had gained con- 
siderable distinction by becoming the son-in-law of 
the government; on account of which he was put 
down as a head-liner and starred at some of the 
principal performances. It was not long, how- 
ever, until his woeful lack of discretion in han- 
dling the political secrets of the family made it 
appear wise to give him an unimportant place in 
the chorus. 

As is the case in every Presidential election, 
there were other tickets in the field besides those 
representing the Republican and Democratic or- 



244 Moore's History of iJie States 

ganizatlons. Failing to procure office for himself 
as a Democrat, and realizing, as every newspaper 
man does, the value of advertising, William Ran- 
dolph Hearst had his own political notions pat- 
ented and turned the rights over to a holding com- 
pany, which he incorporated under the name of 
The Independence League. Such an organization 
in baseball circles would be known as an outlaw 
league. Its independence consisted in its refusal 
to be dominated by any political boss except Hearst 
himself. There was never a question about his ex- 
clusive right to authority in the party, for he was 
the owner of the patents, and was paying the op- 
erating expenses out of his own pocket. 

The Independence League nominated a very 
worthy man for the Presidency, whose name we 
shall not mention for two excellent reasons: first, 
because he is trying like a man to live it down, and 
again because we have forgotten the name. The 
candidate for the Vice-Presidency on that ticket 
was a versatile journalist and orator in the employ 
of Mr. Hearst, who was paid by the year to write, 
speak, or run for office, or do anything else he 
might be called upon to do within the term of his 
employment. John Temple Graves was not, there- 
fore, to blame for making an effort to earn his 
salary, even if he did have to say and do many fool- 
ish things in the attempt. 

The campaign of 1908 was a most unusual one 
in many respects: particularly so as to the manner 
in which it was conducted in behalf of the Repub- 
lican ticket. The party had its regular National 



The Taft-Bryan Campaign 245 

Committee and its chairman, who were supposed 
to be in charge, but the real management was taken 
in hand by the President. He had named the 
candidate and did not propose to take any chance 
as to his election. The White House therefore 
speedily became headquarters. Mr. Roosevelt did 
not actually take the stump, though at times it was 
threatened, but he sent the members of his Cabinet 
from State to State, speaking as they were prompt- 
ed from Washington, meanwhile keeping himself 
busy issuing circular letters and bulletins, which 
were remarkable more for their vehemence than 
their wisdom. No one made any great fuss about 
it, but some did intimate that it was hardly fair to 
have men who were paid by the whole people 
spending their time in the interest of only a part. 

November at length came around, as it is in the 
habit of doing once in a while, and the ballots were 
cast. It was scarcely necessary to count them, for 
the result was pretty well known even before it re- 
sulted. Mr. Bryan was again relieved of personal 
responsibility for the country's success or failure, 
and had the satisfaction of having it recorded that, 
although thrice a candidate for the Presidency, he 
had never done worse than run second. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

THE TAFT ADMINISTRATION 

Those who attended the inauguration of Wil- 
liam Howard Taft, on the 4th day of March, 
1909, will never forget the occasion: they will 
indeed be fortunate if they get over it. Not one 
of the great multitude that was gathered there will 
ever again have faith in the official weather fore- 
caster, who most solemnly promised a fair day for 
the coronation. Washington City may have had 
a worse day away back somewhere in its early his- 
tory, but if it had the secret has been well kept. 

It had been planned that the inauguration of 
President Taft should be made to eclipse every- 
thing of the kind that had ever transpired in all 
history. More people had arranged to be present, 
and greater preparations had been made to take 
care of them. But on the evening of March 3d 
it began to rain, and kept on raining till it got 
tired; then it snowed for a while, then rained 
again, harder than before. Finally it tried its hand 
at doing both at the same time, and mixed in an 
occasional layer of sleet. 

Next morning the streets were filled with a 
slushy mixture, too thin for pedestrians and too 

246 



The Taft Administration 247 

thick for boats. Belated trains continued to ar- 
rive, adding to the population of the already over- 
crowded city. The houses were all full, the side- 
walks full, the streets themselves were full, and 
many of the people fast getting in the same condi- 
tion. Telegraph and telephone wires were all 
down, and prices all up. Many who started from 
their homes failed to get there at all; they were 
lucky at that, for it ceased to be a question of get- 
ting to Washington, but rather one of getting away 
from there ; and in the meantime it was also a ques- 
tion of getting something to eat. Trains all stopped 
running; indeed the clock, the board bill, the melt- 
ing snow and the colors in the bedrabbled bunting 
were about the only things that made any attempt 
to run. Late in the day the sun and the afternoon 
papers came out, but it was too late to make the 
occasion a success. 

The parade began early and kept up till the fol- 
lowing morning. It had to, for the people could 
find no place to sit down, and it was too cold to 
stand still. There was nothing left for them to do 
but keep marching. Delegationswere on hand from 
every State in the Union, and some besides. Men 
were in the line of march who had crossed the Con- 
tinent just for the privilege of wading along Penn- 
sylvania iVvenue with a chance of catching a 
glimpse of the new President, and a better chance 
of catching la grippe. Women and children had 
made the pilgrimage from their distant happy 
homes that they might soak their Sunday shoes in 
the overllowing gutters and clap their hands when 



248 Moore's History of the States 

the royal chariot passed by. The bands played, 
"Hail I The Conquering Hero Comes!" and the 
clouds, which had gathered overhead, hailed to 
beat the band. For once at least the sailors were 
more at home than the soldiers. 

It was a big day in the old town, but a day full 
of disappointments and regrets. The crowd was 
disappointed because it had to face the storm and 
abstain from all the comforts of civilized life; the 
railroads were disappointed because their trains 
v/ere held up, their expenses increased and their 
earnings diminished ; the telegraph companies were 
disappointed because they could not use their lines 
to transmit the messages of the people who were 
eager to wire home for money, rubber boots and 
ham sandwiches; the hotels were disappointed and 
chagrined because they had agreed to furnish beds 
for less than w^as being oftereci for billiard tables 
and flat-top desks. Even Mr. Taft was disap- 
pointed because the snow was too deep to play golf. 
Taken altogether, it was the most unsatisfactory 
inaugural festival in the history of the govern- 
ment. 

When night came on the situation was even 
worse. The occasion was no respecter of persons. 
Well-bred people were without bread of any kind, 
protectionists were without protection, and cam- 
paign liars had no place to lie. Those who re- 
mained out of doors were soaked, while the unfor- 
tunate ones who got inside the hotels were doubly 
soaked. 

Still another man was sorely disappointed. He 



The Taft Administration 249 

had carefully packed his guns and spurs, and had 
everything in shape for a triumphant departure 
from the city. It had been arranged that the 
larger part of the crowd should break away from 
the main show and shift the storm center to the 
open space in front of the Union Station, where an 
unparalleled ovation was to be given the idol of 
the people, who had just passed his crown and 
scepter to his successor. But the game had to be 
called oft on account of wet grounds, and the world 
was deprived of a sensational extemporaneous ad- 
dress, which had been prepared with unusual care. 
Then slowly but surely it began to dawn upon this 
over-advertised monarch that the world loses inter- 
est in even the greatest ruler when he steps down 
from the throne. Realizing that he was in a great 
measure shorn of his strength, he shortly there- 
after took passage for the far-oft coast of Africa, 
where he might exercise dominion over the wild 
beasts which had not yet heard of the expiration 
of his official term. Before sailing, however, he 
took good care to furnish the press with advance 
information concerning his daring exploits in the 
jungle. It was not his fault that some stupid pa- 
pers published the stories of certain adventures 
before the dates on which they were billed to take 
place. 

To steer the ship of state now became the duty 
of the newly installed President. After the selec- 
tion of his Cabinet, and the engagement of his cad- 
die, the first important official act which he per- 
formed was to call an extra session of Congress. 



250 Moore's History of the States 

Note, please, the adjective here Is meant to quahfy 
the word session and not Congress; for, while It 
was an extra session, It was fully demonstrated 
there was nothing extra about the Congress which 
was assembled. The call was made In accordance 
with a pledge that had been given before the elec- 
tion to have a revision of the tariff laws with the 
least possible delay — a pledge which was not vol- 
unteered, but reluctantly made to satisfy the voters 
who were demanding It. 

In one respect the life of a government Is very 
much like that of an Individual; the question which 
perplexes It most Is how It may procure the funds 
necessary to meet Its expenses. In the difference of 
opinion which never falls to exist concerning this 
problem most political parties have found the ex- 
cuse for their birth and existence. Of course It Is 
agreed that the money must come from the people ; 
but to determine the method by which It may be 
least painfully extracted from their pockets, there- 
by minimizing the resistance and resentment of the 
victims, Is what calls for the exercise of political 
sagacity, sometimes called "statesmanship." 

The Democratic party for years Insisted there 
was but one lawful excuse for levying a tax ; viz., 
to get the money. Republicans, on the other hand, 
proclaimed the pleasing and plausible doctrine of 
protection to American Industries, the theory being 
that a tax laid on Imports would give the domestic 
manufacturer a chance to charge more for his 
products, thereby enabling him to Increase his prof- 
its. That was giving him substantial encourage- 



The Taft Administration 251 

ment, to be sure, for there Is no more effective anti- 
dote for business despondency than handsome divi- 
dends. Then they argued this benefit was shared 
by all the people, for the more a manufacturer 
makes, the more he can pay for his labor. Cer- 
tainly he can pay more, but right there the argu- 
ment sometimes fails; for what a man can do and 
what he actually does are not always the same. 
And even if the laborer does get more, he has no 
more in the end, for he is the individual who buys 
the product of the manufacturer for which a 
higher price is charged to enable the payment of 
better wages. It is therefore apparent that when 
the workingman gets a raise by that process he is 
made to pay it out of his own pocket; not always 
indeed getting an increase equal to the price he 
pays for it. High wages and high prices enable 
him to handle more money, but they do not give 
him a bigger loaf or a heavier ton of coal. The 
theory of putting up prices for the benefit of the 
workingman is on a par with the boast of the 
farmer that he had sold a common dog for a hun- 
dred dollars, then admitted the consideration was 
paid in two pups at fifty dollars apiece. 

American industries were at first given this arti- 
ficial support because they were Infants and there- 
fore unable to take care of themselves. Then 
when they grew up on this Federal Mellin's Food 
it was argued that, being so much larger, they re- 
quired and could assimilate more nourishment; 
and it was given them. At length the industrial 
children of the nation became so big and strong 



252 Moore's History of the States 

they could go right into the pantry and help them- 
selves, and nobody dared put them out. 

For many years the duties levied on imports 
were kept so high for protective reasons that the 
treasury receipts were considerably in excess of 
the government's requirements. This naturally 
resulted in the accumulation of a large surplus in 
the treasury and a withdrawal of a like amount of 
the people's money from the channels of trade. 
Everybody admitted the policy was a bad one, and 
for a long time the question of reducing the surplus 
was a fruitful theme of political discussion. 

Democrats suggested the situation might best be 
remedied by reducing the tariff and leaving the 
money with the people; but the Republican party, 
being then in power, favored a very different sys- 
tem of relief. The way to get rid of a surplus, it 
contended, is to spend it; then proceeded forthwith 
to demonstrate the correctness of the theory. 
Strange it had not occurred to the people before to 
take this simple step ! Every one ought to know 
that the man who pays out more money than he 
gets in will not long be bothered about a surplus, 
nor will he Interfere with a full and free circula- 
tion of the legal tender. After the adoption of this 
admirable plan the word "surplus" dropped out of 
our political vocabulary and we learned to talk of 
"the deficit." 

At length, however, the impression began to pre- 
vail, even among the rank and file of the Repub- 
lican party, that the government's protection might 
be more generally and equitably distributed. When 



The Taft Administration 253 

that was found to be the opinion of the voters, the 
poHticians were of course not long in reaching the 
same conclusion. In response therefore to a de- 
mand well nigh universal, in the campaign of 1908 
both parties promised a revision of the tariff, and 
the candidates of both had a good deal to say 
about how it should be done. The Democrats de- 
clared that, inasmuch as they had always been op- 
posed to a tariff for protection, it was only right 
that the work of revision should be entrusted to 
them; while the Republicans replied that, if pro- 
tection was ailing, and could be cured only by an 
operation, it should certainly be treated in a sym- 
pathetic hospital — in other words the tariff should 
be revised by "its friends," as they were pleased to 
express it. As usual the plausible argument of the 
latter prevailed, and the contract was awarded 
accordingly. 

"You cannot fool all the people all the time," 
said Mr. Lincoln. But what difference does it 
make? i here is no occasion even to desire it. 
All that any party ever needs to do is to fool a ma- 
jority of the voters whenever an election is held. 

At any rate it was understood the tariff should be 
repaired by the men who had made it; and to that 
end the call of the President was issued, and the 
affectionate admirers ot the system came together. 

All revenue measures, it is well known, must 
originate in the Lower House of Congress. It is 
in that body, therefore, that they start ; but we very 
often see their finish at the other end of the Capi- 
tol. So it happened in this instance. When Uncle 



254 Moore's History of the States 

Joe Cannon got his team together for preliminary 
practice it was found he did not have a united 
party back of him to adopt and enforce the iron- 
clad rules under which he had for years been run- 
ning things to suit himself; but he was enabled to 
win out by the timely assistance of a few Demo- 
crats, who seemed to know they were not even big 
enough to hold their positions for any length of 
time and were therefore willing to make any sort 
of a deal that would give them temporary advan- 
tage. There, for instance, was poor little Fitz- 
gerald, from Brooklyn, who turned his back on his 
party and his constituents for the privilege of hav- 
ing the Speaker slap him familiarly on the shoulder 
and hand him an occasional Pittsburg stogy. Be- 
sides, he got his picture in the papers, which af- 
forded him more genuine satisfaction than he 
could have gotten out of the approval of the people 
who sent him there. 

The Committee on Ways and Means — ways 
that are dark and means that are questionable — 
with Sereno Payne as its chairman, promptly got to 
work, and refusing to hear anything or anybody 
not in accord with its own views, was not long re- 
porting a new tariff measure. This was promptly 
adopted by the overwhelming Republican majority, 
and sent for the concurrence of the Senate ; but that 
is another story. 

The Senate, as then constituted, was a remark- 
able collection of lawsmiths. The first name on the 
roll call was also first in importance. Nelson W. 
Aldrich, the father-in-law of Standard Oil, Jr. He 



The Taft Administration 255 

hailed from the little State of Rhode Island, but 
that did not prevent his exercising undisputed au- 
thority over all the other States and Territories. 
He had always been a consistent advocate as well 
as beneficiary of a protective tariff. Nothing could 
be more fitting therefore than that he should be 
put in charge of this revision of the tariff, which 
was to be made by its friends, for he and the tariff 
had chummed it together for many a day. Nor 
was he wanting in many of the essential qualities 
of leadership. A man of great ability and alert- 
ness, he could, like Gladstone, smile encouragingly 
upon his supporters, or, like Bismarck, wither with 
a frown those who dared oppose him. He was 
courageous when sure of his ground, but speedily 
ran to cover when the odds appeared to be against 
him. There was little occasion for fear in this 
particular fight, for a good working majority of 
the Senate had been delivered to him bodily by the 
interests which had sent them there ; and he knew 
they all had their peremptory orders to follow 
him at any cost, without having or asking for a 
reason. Of course every move he was to make 
had already been agreed upon before this supreme 
power was bestowed. 

The Democratic members of the finance com- 
mittee were told they must not attend its meetings, 
for their presence might embarrass a free discus- 
sion of the measure by the men in whose interest 
it was being framed, and it was only a waste of 
time for them to make any objections. The Re- 
publican members of the committee were also 



256 Moore's History of iJie States 

given to understand that they would be permitted 
to think only as Aldrich thought, thus avoiding 
confusion. Of course the protected interests were 
invited to come before the committee and assist 
the chairman to make up the committee's mind, 
but the unprotected people were asked to stay at 
home and save their car fare. Thus Senator Al- 
drich drafted the tariff bill of 1909. 

However, when the Aldrich report, which, as a 
matter of habit was called the Report of the 
Finance Committee, was brought in for considera- 
tion by the Senate it was more difficult to suppress 
the expression of adverse opinion. The Com- 
mander of the forces never at any time had reason 
to fear the outcome of a vote on any proposition 
he might offer, but it was annoying to have his 
fallacies and deceptions exposed to the public. A 
limited number of Democrats were still occupying 
seats in the Senate and exercising the right to 
speak and vote with the minority. In addition to 
this, eight or ten Republicans refused to heed their 
master's voice, or to wear his muzzle, on account 
of which rebellious attitude they were called Insur- 
gents. And a busy lot they were, too; nothing 
ever came up that one or more did not take the 
floor and proceed to insurge, much to the discom- 
fiture of the regulars. 

The work of the session had not advanced far 
Avhen it was discovered that, while Senator Aldrich 
meant to revise the tariff, he at the same time had 
no thought of reducing it. Then, when reminded 
of the promises the party had made before the 



The Taft Adminislration 257 

election he simply inquired, "Who ever said the 
duties were to be lowered?" That was promptly 
met by certain of the insurgents, who brought in 
the phonograph and gave a few canned specimens 
from the campaign speeches of the President, say- 
ing that he and his party stood for a revision 
dozvfiward. But Aldrich knit his brow and said, 
"Who is this man Taft, that he should undertake 
to tell us what we had in mind when we promised 
tariff revision? Isn't a rising temperature just as 
much a change of the weather as a shifting of the 
mercury toward the zero point? Does a fluctua- 
tion in the market always mean a bear movement? 
Suppose the people did all understand we were 
pledging ourselves to a reduction of the tariff, 
what right had they to reach any conclusion with- 
out first coming to me? Besides, the people don't 
know what they want, and have no business to 
form an opinion, much less the right to express it." 
Five long weeks were then consumed discussing 
whether the President had said what he had said, 
and whether he meant what he said he meant. 
Strange it did not accur to some one to ask him 
about it. Five cents would have called him on the 
'phone, or ten cents would have sent a messenger 
to the White House with a note requesting the 
President to interpret his own words. Strange, 
too, that while the papers were every day filled 
with this senatorial discussion, and the whole 
country waiting anxiously for something to be 
done, it never once occurred to Mr. Taft that he 
might in five minutes clear up all confusion as to 



258 Moore's History of the States 

his personal pledge to the people that there should 
be a downward revision. Does any one believe for 
a moment that the Senate could have spent as 
much as two days discussing what Theodore 
Roosevelt meant by any statement of his while he 
was on the job, without hearing from that gentle- 
man? Of course we know that, if he had changed 
his mind or popular sentiment had materially 
shifted, he would simply have declared that the 
reporters were all liars, but he would at least have 
announced how he wanted to be understood at that 
particular moment. 

To sit in the Senate gallery and witness the 
proceedings of that body was intensely amusing 
to any one who could forget that he was an Ameri- 
can citizen, and therefore interested in the result 
of the pretended deliberations. The Rhode Island 
Senator was always surrounded by a well-drilled 
and obedient corps of subordinates, who under- 
stood his signals as thoroughly as the members of 
a baseball team know every nod and gesture of 
their manager. Conspicuous among the chair- 
man's helpers was Reid Smoot, of Utah, who acted 
as his caddie while the game was on, and took care 
of his clubs between contests. It was a part of 
his work to hunt up, or make up, a lot of statistics 
to support every Aldrich proposition. At the open- 
ing of each session he would solemnly stroll into 
the Senate chamber with his arms full of books and 
papers, which he arranged on his desk with omi- 
nous deliberation. But they were seldom called 
into service ; their object was not so much to illumi- 



The Tcift Admimsti-ation 259 

nate as it was to intimidate. Whenever a state- 
ment of his chief was attacked, it was Smoot's 
business to get up and read a lot of confusing fig- 
ures, which he alleged furnished conclusive proof 
of the correctness of Aldrich's contention. This 
would very often end the controversy, for the 
average Senator would rather yield a point than 
take the trouble to revise Smoot's arithmetic on a 
hot June day. At other times, when a Demo- 
crat or an insurgent had the floor and appeared to 
be making a good impression, in opposition to the 
plans of the committee, Smoot had his orders to 
interrupt him by asking some irrelevant question. 
In the colloquy which followed, Utah usually got 
the worst of it; still he accomplished his purpose, 
which was simply to break up the continuity of a 
forceful argument. He was a very ordinary de- 
bater, seldom remaining in the argument long 
enough to have the last word; indeed no Mormon 
ever expects to have it; he does well to have any. 
But Smoot was nevertheless a valuable aid to 
Aldrich. There were bigger men in the Senate, 
but they were too big to be cajoled into any such 
humiliating subserviency; there were smaller men, 
but they were too small for any use. 

Not far from the King sat Stephen B. Elkins,the 
Duke of West Virginia; round, ruddy and rapa- 
cious; always sleek and well groomed, in spite of 
his limited means, and always wearing a genial 
smile, in spite of what it was costing him to hold 
his seat in the Senate. Elkins seldom undertook 
to make a speech; in that he was wise, for it was 



2 6o Moore's History of the States 

not his natural gait. He very often, however, 
asked leave to print some very readable statements, 
procured on the open market, which enabled him 
to keep in touch with his constituents by sending 
out at the expense of the government a circular let- 
ter in the form of a public document. Pending the 
tariff discussion he spent a small portion of his 
time in his seat, but remained in easy call that he 
might be on hand whenever coal or lumber hap- 
pened to be mentioned. He took an interest in 
these particular things because he had some of his 
principal in them. The poor man had at one time 
purchased two or three hundred thousand acres of 
coal lands at about seventy-five cents a square 
mile, for which he would not be able to get more 
than six or seven hundred dollars per acre, should 
the tariff on coal be removed. Then, he owned 
several counties of timber lands, which he had 
bought at a tax sale, just to help the State, on which 
his profits would not amount to more than twelve 
or fourteen millions, should the tariff on lumber be 
reduced, as it was proposed. No wonder the poor 
man's rest was broken and his appetite below par! 
He was not in thorough harmony with all the plans 
of Senator Aldrich, but was perfectly wilHng to 
vote with him on everything else, if he could only 
save the duty on coal and lumber. His colleague. 
Senator Scott, came from Wheeling; he was there- 
fore more concerned about nails, and was always 
nervous when anybody stepped on glass. Scott 
had also managed to save a few millions out of his 
salary. 



The Taft Administration 261 

It is noticeable that all the Senators who had 
money were lined up on the side of protection. 
Doubtless there was a reason for it. Among them, 
for instance, was DuPont, of Delaware, who 
shared the protected profits of the powder trust. 
He could always be depended on to vote with the 
committee, provided some one sat near him to wake 
him up and tell him what Aldrich expected when 
the roll was called. He moved about the Capitol 
with an air of uneasiness, as if he were in constant 
dread of some one ciropping a lighted match and 
blowing the place to atoms. True, Delaware is a 
small State, but that was no excuse for sending a 
man of like dimensions to represent her in the 
Senate. 

A sturdy follower of the regulars was Penrose, 
of Pennsylvania. No man could think of the im- 
mense population of that broad State, then look at 
Penrose without wondering how he got there. In 
spite of his stall-fed appearance, he wore habitually 
an expression of scornful disapproval, which seemed 
to indicate he was by no means pleased with the 
world or the inhabitants thereof. He made no 
effort to be companionable, yet ordinary men 
from the humbler walks of life were always glad 
to meet him, for when they knew him it was no 
longer a source of constant regret that they, too, 
could not be Senators. 

Close to the throne sat William Alden Smith, a 
product of the pine lands of Michigan, and no ordi- 
nary Smith was he. This distinguished gentleman 
was one of the best time-killers on Senator Al- 



262 Moore's History of the States 

drich's staff, always keeping on hand a supply of 
Fourth-of-July orations of a general character, 
equally impertinent to all senatorial discussions, 
and ready for use at a moment's notice. Plis fa- 
vorite among these, and the one to which he most 
frequently resorted, was a carefully phrased de- 
scription of the Dikes of Holland, which it pleased 
him so much to employ as an illustration of the 
saving beneficence of a protective tariff. It was his 
custom to deliver this speech to the gallery, that 
indeed being his only audience, for when he be- 
gan there was a senatorial emigration to the cloak 
rooms. The visitors as a rule remained until he 
had concluded, and really enjoyed the effort, for 
few of them had ever heard it before, and there 
was one man who was always delighted with any- 
thing Smith might say or do, and that was Smith 
himself. 

Across the chamber, far removed from the 
Rhode Island Chief, sat Elihu Root, among the 
Democrats, but not of them. Some of the surplus 
Republican members were obliged to place them- 
selves on the Democratic side in order to prevent 
a listing of the Capitol building, it being unsafe to 
store all the cargo on one side. Root was one of 
the delegates sent over, because he could be trusted 
to take care of himself, without remaining within 
prompting distance of the ring master, as so many 
of them were obliged to do. Furthermore, he 
was inclined to go because he had no desire to be 
prompted. While classed as a regular and usually 
voting with them, Root refused to wear the Aldrich 



The Taft Administration 263 

collar, and there was always a feeling of apprehen- 
sion that he might pick up a different trail from 
the one the pack was following. His entering the 
Senate attracted more than ordinary attention, not 
only on account of his being more than an ordi- 
nary man, but for the reason also that the State 
of New York had for a number of years taken no 
serious part in the proceedings of that body. So 
far as accomplishing anything was concerned, she 
might as well have been represented by Weber and 
Field or Cole and Johnson as by the antiquated 
serio-comic team to whom she had issued creden- 
tials — Piatt and Depew. Root found it the easiest 
job of his life to outshine Piatt, but Depew still 
remained at his post, making it easier every day 
for his successor to appear to advantage. What a 
pity it is that some men never know when to quit ! 
There is a pathetic triumph about the ending of a 
useful public career, while agony alone can come 
from prolonging a useless one. 

Gallinger, of New Hampshire, was one of the 
reliable members of the guard. His own party 
would have thought better of him if he had not 
dressed his hair so much like Bacon, a Georgia 
Democrat. Gazing down from the gallery, their 
burnished heads, when in repose, looked like two 
cornfield pumpkins, and some insisted that the 
resemblance did not wholly disappear when they 
began talking. Neither Gallinger nor Bacon was 
to blame for looking like the other, for they both 
regretted it. 

Carter, from Montana, the friend of the meek 



264 Moore's History of the States 

and Jowly sheep, whose interest in the wool-grower 
was apparent from the well-combed fleece which 
hung from his chin, was an ardent defender of the 
protective faith. He spoke often, and not un- 
pleasingly, for his voice had the resonant intona- 
tion of the trained shepherd calling to his flock 
across the wide stretch of the western prairie; nor 
did he, in spite of his early pastoral environments, 
go wool-gathering quite so often as some members 
of the body who had never seen a lamb, except 
on Wall Street. 

In addition to these, and a few others who had 
some individual marks of distinction, there was 
constantly on hand a number whose only apparent 
excuse for being in Washington was that they 
might help to constitute a quorum, and hold them- 
selves in readiness to cast their ballots as directed 
by the Senator from Rhode Island. That purpose 
they could very well serve, for the result is effected 
just as much by the vote of a man who casts it 
mechanically as of one who uses it to express an in- 
telligent choice. 

There was, however, in the Senate a very force- 
ful minority that had to be reckoned with; a mi- 
nority Avhich, while it could not change the course 
of pending legislation, was sufficiently strong and 
aggressive to harass the well-disciplined regulars. 
Iowa furnished a pair of sharp-shooters, who 
picked off many a straggler and kept the forces 
under Aldrich close to the fortifications. The 
tactics of Dolliver and Cummins did not shorten 
the session, but did shorten the days of the men 



The Taft Administration 265 

who had the bill in charge, and at the same time 
made these two insurgents as unwelcome there as 
an honest man in Tammany Hall. 

And there sat LaFollette, as wise as a serpent 
and as harmless as a den of them, quick to catch 
the drift of public opinion, and just as quick to 
get in it and call it a current of his own making. 
So good a speaker was he that he could hide his 
fallacies in the mazes of his own volubility; and so 
good an actor, that he could dilute the suspicion of 
hypocrisy by the profusion of his own tears. At 
times the concern he manifested for the down- 
trodden people was so impressive that many who 
beheld him were almost persuaded to join him in 
his consuming desire that he might some day be- 
come the President of the United States. Aldrich 
put a bounty on LaFollette's scalp, but no one 
seemed anxious to go after the prize. Time and 
again it was rumored in the corridors and Avhis- 
pered in the galleries that he would be pilloried 
next day, but that to-morrow never came. Penrose 
tried it once — only once, and retired from the con- 
test a sadder, if not a wiser man. This Wiscon- 
sin David was not to be slain by a Pennsylvania 
giant whose own armor was full of holes through 
which the most unskilled warrior could shy a 
stone. 

Another source of annoyance, not only to Al- 
drich, but also to everybody else who happened 
to be present, was the boy orator from Indiana, 
Beveridge. He could stand on the floor and listen 
to himself talk all day without showing half as 



266 Moore's History of the States 

much fatigue as other members who were seated in 
cushioned chairs. It was admitted on every hand 
that he could talk — just talk, that's all. Beveridge 
was young, it is true, but old enough to know bet- 
ter. His self-confidence was so well developed 
that he never cared to have his position shared by 
any one else, preferring always to stand alone, in 
which attitude he would be more conspicuous. 
Occasionally he raised an objection with merit, 
but if some other Senator joined in pressing it, 
Beveridge would at once forsake the stand he had 
taken and seek neutral ground. The only reason 
he ever voted with either side was because he could 
not vote against both. 

While it would not be gathered from an exami- 
nation of the tariff measure framed by the Senate 
of 1909, it must not be forgotten that a few Demo- 
crats were bunched in one corner of the chamber. 
Chief among these, and for that matter chief 
among them all, was Joe Bailey, of the broad 
State of Texas, who towered above his associates 
as a solitary peak lifts its head above the sur- 
rounding hills. Having a clearer conception of his 
subject and a more forceful utterance than any 
other member of the body, it was not strange that 
while he spoke no one ever had to suggest the ab- 
sence of a quorum, nor was it easy to find a vacant 
seat in the gallery. Even Aldrich listened with 
ill-concealed admiration. He was seldom inter- 
rupted, and never twice by the same man, for it 
was no evidence of discretion to engage him in 
personal controversy. But even Joe was built on 



The Taft Admuiistration 267 

modern lines, and in private life chased with 
crafty avidity the dollar he unselfishly scorned in 
public official utterance. Those who knew him 
best never lost their faith in the gifted Texan, but 
he should have known that no man in that genera- 
tion could hold a tight grip on public confidence 
with oily hands. It is a real calamity when the 
pathway of such a man is made so insecure by 
Standard lubrication that his feet slip from under 
him; for even when he gets up again it takes a long 
time to free himself from the odor. 

Near Bailey sat the man who made South Caro- 
lina famous, Ben Tillman. It was not very often 
that he spoke, but when he did it required no in- 
terpreter to make his words understood. He was 
called by many names, some of them unprintable, 
but it never occurred to any one to speak of him as 
a fool. Yet wise men do foolish things, and Ben 
was not an exception to the rule. In debate he was 
no scientific Graeco-Roman wrestler, but insisted 
upon a catch-as-catch-can bout, with no barring 
of the stranglehold. His frankness ofttimes caused 
him to be misunderstood. He used no veneer in his 
conversation. His feeling for the black man was 
no more hostile because he always called him a 
"nigger." Every other Southern man does the 
same thing when he speaks naturally; indeed most 
members of the dusky race use the term freely 
when speaking of one another. Tillman then could 
see no reason for calling the negro one thing on the 
plantation and another on the platform. The 
South Carolinian did not believe in protection, 



268 Moore's History of the States 

but announced finally that, if it were to continue 
the policy of the government, he wanted his people 
to get their share of it, for which reason he sought 
to have a duty on catnip and sassafras tea. 

Daniel, of Virginia, with his stolid Roman face 
and flowing locks, looked more like a lion than one 
who had been cast into a den of hungry animals to 
be devoured because he persisted in saying his 
prayers, as happened to his celebrated kinsman in 
ancient days. Gore, from the newly made State of 
Oklahoma, was the unfortunate possessor of sight- 
less eyes, yet he was not so blind to the truth as 
some of his associates in the Senate whose physical 
optics were unimpaired. Bob Taylor, the genial 
Tennesseean, who used his gift of speech just as 
he used his fiddle, solely for the music he could get 
out of it, sat there and dreamed of his happy boy- 
hood days, disguised in the role of a statesman. 
It is nothing short of a crime to sentence a man 
of his temperament to six long years of confine- 
ment in the Senate. Of course there were many 
others there, but not the kind of men whose deeds 
may be woven into the fabric of a household story. 

Scarcely less important than the Senate itself 
was the lobby that had part in the construction of 
the Aldrich tariff. Every interest that had grown 
fat and strong by the grace of the Dingley bill had 
its delegation camping in Washington, with picket 
lines thrown out around the Capitol. The Steel 
Trust, with its harveyized heart, was pleading for 
a chance to live, and demonstrated that without a 
prohibitive tariff, enabling it to exact high prices 



The Taft Administration 269 

from American consumers, It could not afford to 
sell its products in the foreign markets for one- 
third less than it gets for the same at home. In 
order, therefore, to give the poor Englishman his 
steel rails for twenty dollars a ton the tariff must 
be so adjusted that the American buyer is com- 
pelled to pay twenty-eight. And why should any- 
one object to this? The domestic railroad can 
easily overcome the difference in cost by raising its 
transportation rates on the American suckers, who 
have no better sense than to stand for it and march 
under the banner of protection. 

The packers were there, praying for the reten- 
tion of the duty on hides; lest, after skinning the 
farmer who raises the steer and skinning the ani- 
mal, they might not be able to skin the people who 
wear shoes and make other common uses of 
leather. The packers, of course, had no concern 
about the price of feet envelopes, for they buy 
theirs in Paris, where they spend their spare time 
and spare change. 

The Sugar Trust, that sweet child of the system, 
was crawling round the place, smearing everything 
with its sticky fingers. Why, it wanted to know, 
should the unrefined people be permitted to buy a 
cheap refined sugar, when it had been so recently 
demonstrated that the trust could not make all the 
money it wanted without resorting to theft? Was 
it not the duty of the government to remove the 
temptation to commit crime by giving these people 
a license to take everything in sight by due process 
of law? Furthermore it was humiliating for men 



270 Moore's History of the States 

of high social and commercial position to have to 
plead the statute of limitations to keep out of jail. 
There was but one way to end all this unseemly 
practice; let the law be so framed that the com- 
mon people, who never could be trusted with 
money, would be compelled to turn over all they 
procured as soon as it came into their hands, thus 
dispensing with the necessity for using the sand 
bag. 

One very important trust, however, did not 
attend that gathering. It had no occasion to do 
so. Standard Oil owned the American refineries 
and the oil fields of the rest of the world. If there- 
fore the tariff should be reduced, it could bring in 
its crude petroleum at a saving, and if advanced, it 
could then raise the price of the finished product. 
So the saintly John D. gathered up his clubs and 
hied himself to the golf links, for, come what 
might, he was a winner. 

There was no reason indeed why these interests 
should not all be at the Capitol to instruct the men 
they had put there at a heavy expense. And they 
had a right to demand a compliance with the 
pledge of the party platform, that a tariff should 
be maintained sufficient at least to equalize the 
cost of foreign and domestic labor, and also to 
guarantee a reasonable profit to the American 
manufacturer, while it was generally conceded that 
the small profit was the only unreasonable one. 
The suggestion that the safety of the widow's mite 
deposited in a bank should be guaranteed was ridi- 
culed; yet it was all right for the government to 



The Taft Admhiistration 271 

guarantee the profits of the men who own the 
banks and everything else in sight. 

There was just one individual who was neither 
consulted nor considered in all these deliberations, 
the man who pays the bill. 

One of the policies of President Taft, which 
he distinctly avowed both before and after his 
election, was the destruction of the political 
solidity of the South. To the accomplishment 
of that purpose he devoted so much of his 
thought and energy that it became the para- 
mount aim of the administration. He had not the 
slightest objection to the consistency and unanimity 
with which the Southern States clung to their politi- 
cal faith, but he did object seriously to the kind of 
faith they indulged. He found no fault with their 
people because they continued from year to year 
to vote the same ticket, but he condemned severely 
the choice they made of a ticket to support. It 
was not because the South was solid that he grieved, 
but because it was solidly Democratic. If its so- 
lidity had been devoted to the maintenance of Re- 
publican ideals, it would then have had his unquali- 
fied approval. 

The President was not unduly disturbed on 
account of the consistent fidelity of the New 
England States to the doctrines of the party to 
which he belonged, nor did he ever suggest that the 
interests of the country would be better served by 
a disturbance of their unfailing loyalty to Repub- 
licanism. It was suicidal, he insisted, for Virginia 
or Texas to remain perpetually in the Democratic 



272 Moore's History of the States 

column, but he was never heard to intimate that 
Vermont or Pennsylvania would profit by an occa- 
sional change of its political complexion. Nor was 
he disposed to admit that alternating the control 
of the Federal Government between the two parties 
would be productive of better results. Only one 
conclusion was inevitable : Mr, Taft's most serious 
objection to the South was that it did not express a 
preference for him and the party to which he be- 
longed. 

The President should have remembered that it 
was the attitude of his party that compelled the 
South to become and remain solidly Democratic. 
At the close of the Civil War a multitude of ig- 
norant negroes were armed with the ballot and 
clothed with all the rights of citizenship for the 
sole purpose of giving numerical strength to his 
political organization, which for its own advantage 
was perfectly willing that the white people of the 
South should be subjected to negro domination. 
There was nothing left for self-respecting men — 
who believed in the supremacy of Caucasian 
blood — to do but band themselves together In a 
determined effort to find deliverance from the 
curse which was visited upon them. For genera- 
tions, therefore, the difference between the parties 
in that locality was practically a difference of color. 

Finally ways and means were devised for the 
emancipation of the white man; not, however, by 
the aid or encouragement of either Mr. Taft or 
his party. When, therefore, it became well un- 
derstood that at least the local government of the 



The Taft Administration 273 

Southern States would for all time remain in the 
hands of the white people, and that Republicanism 
could never gain the ascendency there through the 
vote of its colored ally, some of the wiser leaders 
thought it good politics to make terms with the ele- 
ment in power. If Republicanism could not tri- 
umph as a negro party, then it was even willing to 
gain supremacy by becoming a peroxide blonde, 
an organization essentially unchanged but robbed 
of its surface discoloration by the process of 
bleaching. A very flattering concession to the 
Southern defenders of their race to be offered a 
place in the party in which the negro had failed 
to make good ! 

The President, accordingly, began a political 
flirtation with the South, whispering into its ear 
that he was in sympathy with its plans and pur- 
poses, but not forgetting, at the same time, to 
speak feelingly of our duty to protect the negro m 
the exercise of his political rights in those locali- 
ties where that doctrine was popular. 

It is more than probable that the South will in 
the future cease to be solid in its political affiliation, 
but when it happens it will come to pass as the re- 
sult of a political expediency, and not in the dis- 
charge of a political obligation to the party which 
made its solidity a defensive necessity. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

SOME CONCLUSIONS 

Having followed the trail of the American peo- 
ple in their march of progress since the establish- 
ment of the first permanent settlements down to, 
and almost through, the first decade of the twen- 
tieth century, a period of about three hundred 
years, it may now be interesting to note brietiy the 
conditions into which their long and eventful pil- 
grimage has brought them. 

The country over which President Taft and 
Senator Aldrich preside is very different from 
that of which George Washington took charge, 
when shortly after the close of the Revolution the 
government went Into the hands of a receiver. Its 
territorial limits have been extended from genera- 
tion to generation, and from the Isthmus of Pana- 
ma to the North Pole. 

By conquest, discovery, and purchases made at 
bankrupt sales Uncle Sam has been picking up a 
continental possession here and an island there 
until he has become one of the biggest taxpayers 
enrolled on the land books. Some indeed believe 
that he is the owner of more land than he can 
work to advantage. 

274 



Some Conclusions 275 

The most recent acquisition has come through 
the right of discovery. Repeated attempts have 
been made to locate the extremity of the earth 
known as the North Pole. Many lives and repu- 
tations have been lost in the effort. Prominent 
among these adventurers were two residents of 
Brooklyn, who for many years had been eager to 
find a more satisfactory abiding place, Dr. Fred- 
erick A. Cook and Commander Robert E. Peary. 

It had been the habit of these two distinguished 
explorers to drop out of sight every few years 
and after a period of some months come back to 
Brooklyn and progress in their search for the Pole. 

At last, in the latter part of the summer of 1 909, 
word came back that Dr. Cook had actually 
reached the coveted goal and taken possession of 
the new territory in the name of the United States. 

The first round of applause had scarcely sub- 
sided, when Commander Peary crossed the hori- 
zon and pro'claimed his triumph in reaching the 
hitherto unknown spot. 

When informed that Dr. Cook had already 
achieved the same success. Commander Peary was 
filled with chagrin and indignation. He could not 
understand how anyone else could be so inconsid- 
erate as to accomplish what he had himself so 
often failed to do. He thereupon declared the 
story of Cook unworthy of credit and proceeded 
to demonstrate that any account of a North Pole 
discovery should be looked upon with suspicion. 

The controversy between these two unselfish 
patriots and explorers waxed strong and bitter. 



276 Moore's History of the States 

The personal friends of each became partisans; 
all seeming to believe that the only valid proof that 
one man had reached the pole consisted in demon- 
strating the impossibility of anyone else doing the 
same. 

The charges and countercharges made by Peary 
and Cook left the public in a state of confusion and 
doubt. If the accusations made by these two men 
against each other were to be credited, then the 
story of neither was entitled to belief; and, if the 
accusations were untrue, then the men making 
them could not be trusted. So there was little left 
upon which confidence could be based. 

The difficulty in proving one's visit to the North 
Pole is apparent. Such evidence as might be 
brought back would not be recognized by those 
who had never been there. 

Cook brought with him a piece of purple ice, 
which he declared was found there in great abun- 
dance; yet scientists tell us this same color effect 
in ice may be had by a skillful use of Diamond 
dyes. 

The strongest proof offered by Peary was a 
pole-cat, which he says was taken right at the pole. 
This would seem to be unanswerable. 

Upon these fragments of testimony, corrobo- 
rated by two Esquimaux, a gentleman of color by 
the name of Hanson and two packs of intelligent 
dogs, must, for the time being, rest our faith that 
the pole was actually discovered. It must also be 
remembered that Dr. Cook claims to have made 
his discovery in the year 1908, during the adminis- 



Some Conclusions 277 

tration of President Roosevelt — a period of mirac- 
ulous performance. 

Many years will doubtless come and go before 
any official denial can be made of these discoveries 
by Congressional committees visiting the scene of 
the alleged finding. 

If it be true that the Stars and Stripes have been 
placed in cold storage at the top of the world, then, 
as Mr. Wickersham, Attorney-General of the 
United States, declares, the Constitution follows 
the flag and the dominion of our country has liter- 
ally been extended to end of the earth. 

As nearly as we can ascertain from the meager 
description brought back by the explorer, this new 
land consists entirely of a large mass of uncracked 
ice, bounded on the south by some more ice of a 
more porous or spongy character, such as is usually 
delivered by the wagons of the American Ice 
Company. It has no other boundary, for every- 
thing else is south of the pole. 

Just what use the United States Government can 
make of this arctic addition has not been deter- 
mined, unless it be to cover it with a mortgage as 
the basis of a new bond issue. Senator Aldrich 
will no doubt insist upon a revision of the tariff 
to protect the New England manufacturer against 
the importation of polar products, though it is 
difficult to see how there can be any ruinous com- 
petition, if the labor unions insist upon a strict en- 
forcement of the eight-hour law, which at the pole 
would limit the period of toil to eight hours per 
annum. 



278 Moore's History of the States 

Not only have the territorial limits of the 
United States been extended within the time we 
have been considering, but no country perhaps in 
all the world has ever experienced so marvelous a 
transformation in a like period. Forthatreason the 
American people have acquired the habit of refer- 
ring with ill-concealed pride to the progress they 
have made, nor have they been slow to speak dis- 
paragingly of the manners and customs of their 
own ancestors, from whom they are removed by 
only a few short generations. 

The population of the country has continuously 
increased by the processes of multiplication and 
addition. In recent years there had been a com- 
parative abatement in the increase by the former 
method, until President Roosevelt stimulated do- 
mestic expansion by his notable message to Con- 
gress, recommending a rigid Federal supervision 
of the family, fixing seven children as the minimum 
allowance to the household. Since then the matri- 
monial dividends have been larger. 

There has been no falling off in the rate of in- 
crease by addition. Ellis Island, the principal port 
of entry for immigrants, has been kept busy mak- 
ing Americans out of the cast-off men, women and 
children of every civilized and barbarous race on 
the face of the earth. Some very good citizens 
come out of the discard, but the greater number of 
these recruits could help the country more by stay- 
ing out of it. 

It is all very well to talk about America being 
the home of the oppressed; and the opening of 



Some Conclns'wus 279 

her doors to the outcasts is a very pretty senti- 
ment, but it may be questioned whether any ulti- 
mate good can come to the country by converting 
it into a human garbage can. 

The simple and laborious life of the pioneer has 
in many instances given place to an existence of 
luxuriant ease; nevertheless, there are simpletons 
still who earn their living by honest toil, just as if 
it were respectable to do so. Whether the modern 
men of affairs, who are in a position to command 
every comfort and convenience of progressive civi- 
lization, get any more satisfaction out of life than 
their less-favored and less-pretentious neighbors is 
difficult to determine. Of course they are infinitely 
better equipped to supply their manifold wants, 
but the trouble is they want so much more than 
they once did. Furthermore, the human mind and 
body are both so constituted that a superabundance 
adds nothing to contentment. When one's appe- 
tite is fully satisfied there is no further satisfac- 
tion to be gotten out of the extra supply left on the 
table. 

There, for instance, is John D. Rockefeller, 
who might buy every delicacy the market affords 
without missing the price, yet whose chronic indi- 
gestion limits his repast to a small bit of toast and 
a cup of diluted hot water, to which he sometimes 
adds a small stewed prune on Sunday or a holiday. 
He gets less real enjoyment out of his meals than 
the rugged woodsman who sits down to his homely 
dish of sauerkraut and pig-knuckles. 

The progress of the American people has deliv- 



2 8o Moore's History of the States 

ered them from many of the primitive dangers 
and discomforts, but has at the same time brought 
them face to face with countless perils and diffi- 
culties that were unknown in colonial history. 

There is no positive evidence that the death rate 
has been materially diminished. The percentage 
of casualties due to the tomahawk of the Indian 
or the ferocity of wild beasts is, to be sure, nothing 
like so great as it was in the seventeenth century, 
but the present generation is constantly exposed to 
a variety of civilized devices for terminating ex- 
istence that were unheard of in former genera- 
tions. The occupant of the stage coach is now sel- 
dom held up by the desperate highwayman, but 
the pedestrian is daily held down by the automobile 
that ploughs its way through the crowded street. 

Even the sick do not have the chance to recover 
which they once enjoyed. In colonial days it 
usually required at least twenty-four hours to get a 
doctor after it was decided to call for his assist- 
ance; now he waits at the telephone to be called, 
and rushes to the bedside of his helpless victim in 
a sixty-horse-power touring car. It is the excep- 
tion when one dies a natural death. 

Prior to the adoption of the Constitution there 
was no such thing as appendicitis — it was plain, 
old-fashioned belly-ache, which was usually cured 
with promptness by the application of the kind 
of poultice that mother used to make. Now the 
family physician prescribes a specialist, who in 
turn prescribes a hospital and a trained nurse. The 
surgeon opens up the patient that he may get some 



Some Conclusions 281 

inside Information ; then he proceeds to remove a 
portion of the anatomy which by general profes- 
sional consent is declared to be one of nature's mis- 
takes, because the learned doctors have not been 
able to discover its use. But the appendix is not all 
the operator gets out of his patient — If the latter is 
a person of means. The operation is always looked 
upon as being successful when the estate of the vic- 
tim is solvent. 

America has become an immensely rich country 
In recent years ; yet many of those who are credited 
with large wealth do not always have enough 
clothes to cover their entire nakedness, as may be 
observed by anyone who attends a ball of the 
Smart Set at Newport or witnesses the bathers at 
some of the fashionable seaside resorts. 

Indeed there are not so many over-rich people 
as we are apt to believe. The comparatively few 
who have a superabundance make more display 
and more noise than the great multitude of normal 
people whose modesty hides them from view and 
keeps pressing the soft pedal. We hear the shriek- 
ing whistle and catch the gasolenic odor of the on- 
rushing automobile, and gaze with marvel upon 
the blinkered occupant of the car, while little heed 
is paid to the pedestrian who quietly goes on his 
way; yet an overwhelming majority of the human 
race goes through life on foot. 

When Diamond Jim Brady enters the cafe of 
the Waldorf-Astoria and orders a double portion 
of everything on the menu for his own consump- 
tion he attracts more attention and comment than 



282 Moore's History of the States 

the feeding of the multitude on five loaves and two 
small fried eggs at a Childs restaurant; still there 
is but one Diamond Jim, while no man can num- 
ber the clerks and typewriters who satisfy their 
hunger at the hash-house. 

The inheritance of large fortunes gives oppor- 
tunity for leisure; but leisure is by no means an 
unmixed blessing. People who are not compelled 
to earn their bread have too much time to observe 
one another; hence we find husbands and wives 
growing tired of the partnership and casting each 
other aside as readily as they would discard their 
worn-out or misfit garments. 

Indeed it would seem that for the convenience 
of these people who practice the trial marriage, ad- 
vocated in the literary effort of Mrs. Herbert Par- 
sons, there should be established a sort of woman's 
exchange, or matrimonial clearing-house, where at 
stated intervals there might be a re-mating of 
couples who have mistaken a fleeting fancy for a 
permanent affinity, or who have mislaid their com- 
patibility. 

Among the many contentions that have arisen 
in this progressive era may be mentioned the cease- 
less conflict between capital and labor, a strife 
which had no place in early history, when men 
earned what they possessed. Then the capitalist 
was the laborer; for indeed he had no capital other 
than that for which he was willing to labor. But 
we shall not undertake to discuss the merits of this 
controv^ersy ; for it does not become one to venture 
an opinion who has never cherished a personal 



Some Conclusions 283 

fondness for labor and has no speaking acquaint- 
ance with capital. 

7"he people of the United States still take de- 
light in the delusion that they live under a popular 
form of government, where the will of the majority 
is the law of the land ; but in truth the majority has 
no will, else political conditions would be speedily 
changed. The complacency with which the people 
have long submitted to the domination of their af- 
fairs, and the blundering efforts they have occa- 
sionally made to find deliverance, have come dan- 
gerously near to demonstrating their unfitness to 
govern themselves. 

It is not within the province of the historian to 
forecast the future, though the task be compara- 
tively easy, for the inaccuracy of statements relat- 
ing to events that are yet to transpire is not so 
readily detected as the mistaken recital of the 
things that have already happened. We shall not 
at this time undertake to draw a picture of Ameri- 
can life one hundred years hence; but, if this book 
should find favor with the people, we may, when 
the century is past, publish another volume record- 
ing the history of Theodore Roosevelt's third term 
and the establishment of his dynasty. 



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LIbHAHY Uh UUNUKbSS 




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